ART Pathos ∙ Τέχνης συγκίνησις®

Aurora Little Baños, Curatorial reflections, Madrid, 2026

Ελληνικά → Οι συναισθηματικές εντάσεις στο έργο του Γιώργου Πολ. Ιωαννίδη

Artworks that catch the viewer’s gaze and linger in the mind slightly longer than one anticipates, as we try to grasp what they reveal and how they make us feel: this is what one encounters when in the presence of the works of Greek artist Giorgos Pol. Ioannidis.

Ioannidis’ works stand out for their ability to be both visually unsettling and deeply engaging through their depictions of the human body in relation to mortality. While fascinating, his paintings are also somewhat troubling, generating a productive tension between attraction and unease. Death emerges as a central theme throughout, a subject which has historically raised many existential questions without clear answers, often producing an internal void accompanied by worry, fear, uncertainty, and a sense of being confronted with something we cannot fully understand or control. Ioannidis’ art seems to incite precisely these feelings, and rather than offering resolution, they create a space in which the viewer may sit with what remains unresolved, observing how these inner tensions take visual form.

Particularly striking is the constant tension that arises through the way the body is placed in states of exposure, fragility or transition, existing somewhere between presence and disappearance. Multiple figures are frequently present, generating a sense of collective witnessing. Through repetition, chromatic intensity and movement, these works produce an almost overwhelming atmosphere, in which attention is dispersed across several focal points. The presence of multiple gazes and bodies directs us towards different areas of the painting, where an unfolding event resists full legibility, perhaps the arrival of death, perhaps the passage into another state of being.

In contrast, works with reduced compositional density and darker tonal registers, produce a different kind of tension, as stillness begins to dominate. In these moments, the atmosphere becomes quieter and more introspective, as the experiential register of the works changes from collective witnessing to a more intimate confrontation with mortality. This transition produces a dual affect: a sense of melancholic quietude alongside an intensified proximity to the subject of death.

Works such as Shadow of Death (2013), Scream (2017), and Lacrimosa (2016) exemplify this condition. Here everything becomes more still, as fewer figures and colours appear. Intriguingly, the black and white compositions, such as Shadow of Death, introduce another shift in emotion. It suddenly may feel not only quieter, but also distant, as though its presented scene belongs to another realm, perhaps that of memory, dream, or an imagined afterlife, creating an unfamiliar stillness that feels beyond immediate reach. Here, the human body appears to be alive yet held in a state of fear while a black bird descends towards it, introducing a sense of nervous anticipation and unease which is reinforced by the monochrome palette. The scene unfolds almost as a nightmare or a subconscious image of something that may inevitably occur, continuing to haunt perception, as the title itself suggests, like a shadow.

It is also within these more minimal compositions that references to time become more explicit through the recurring presence of a clock, which functions as a signifier of temporality and mortality. Again, an intensity grows, this time through a silent movement, as the clock’s hands move and death approaches unseen.

Despite being an everyday object, the clock acquires a heightened presence within these compositions, often positioned in a way that immediately draws attention. Moreover, the clock appears with an eye at its centre, creating the impression that it is watching the viewer as much as we are observing it, acting as a reminder of our own relation to time, and to mortality itself. In addition, other elements are placed next to the clock, adding to the overall significance and emotion evoked. For instance, in Lifeless House (2014), a female figure appears in a state of emotional distress next to other symbolic elements: a butterfly and a rooster. These introduce a different meaning which contrasts with that expressed by the woman, as they point towards transformation, renewal, and the cyclical nature of life.

Across Ioannidis’ practice, animal figures such as horses, dogs, snakes, and birds, make a recurring appearance acting as symbols which reinforce the thematic concerns of instinct, temporality, and mortality. Throughout the works, there is a recurring sense that the body is not only represented in relation to death, but exposed or tested through these visual and symbolic conditions. Together with the contrasts in colour, movement, and composition, the works create a rhythm through which the viewer moves encountering shifting emotional states. Experiencing them collectively builds intensity, as one moves between more charged scenes and quieter, more restrained moments, becoming increasingly aware of one’s own position in relation to what is being seen.

In contemporary visual culture, where images of violence and vulnerability circulate constantly, particularly through digital platforms, there is a risk of desensitisation through repetition. Within this context, Ioannidis’ work operates differently. Rather than contributing to this saturation, it interrupts it, reintroducing a slower and more reflective mode of looking.

With depictions of the body in states of exposure and fragility, these works encourage the viewer to feel again that which relates directly to our shared condition as mortal beings. They ask us to pause, to look more carefully, and to remain with what is uncomfortable. In this sense, the works become meaningful not only in what they show, but in how they are experienced, as they offer a way of re-mediating our engagement with difficult and intimate emotions, in ways that remain present, felt, and open to reflection.