Today we’d like to introduce you to Spyros Prokopiou.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
My inclination towards art goes as far back as I can remember. Being a kid of the ’90s in Nicosia, Cyprus, where I was born and raised, I didn’t have all this technology, Social Media or video games around me. While all kids were more athletic, I was more creative. Few health matters’ issues, that later developed and included in my artistic practice, kept me away from all the activities. I did not really fit, so I was always creating my art! Still a toddler, I used to paint my house’s walls, mirrors, scratching things and since then I have been engaged in various forms of art, including painting, sculpture, engraving and of course, drawing.
After completing my military duty (two years of mandatory service due to the political situation in Cyprus), I got accepted into the School of Visual and Applied Arts of Aristotle University (Greece), a five years long BFA program concentrated in painting, where I graduated with honors in 2016.
A year later, I was granted the Presidential Scholarship from New York Academy of Art (NYAA) in New York. So, in 2017, I decided to move to New York, and in 2019 – being the first Cypriot to ever graduate from the Academy, I received my MFA in Drawing and Printmaking.
Few months later, and with the pandemic going on, I decided to move to Los Angeles. California reminds me of a lot of home, a lot of Cyprus. In a way, that helped my artistic practice to escape from a nostalgic mode that it’s been in the previous years.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
No pain – no gain, don’t they say?
Back in Greece, when I was in art school, I was fortunate enough when curators noticed my work and introduced it to galleries and collectors. That helped me to create a strong exhibition resume at an early stage of my career, even if I wasn’t supported by my professors and colleagues. Their thoughts were that it was too soon for me to get involved with the art world. I believe that if you have opportunities you don’t let them go, even if you feel not ready, when the time comes to present yourself to the world, your instincts will not disappoint you.
It is a little different how things work in Europe in comparison to America. Here if you start early you are a prodigy and everyone tries to help, develop and invest in you, unlike where I come from, you are a naïve dreamer and not mature enough to take you seriously.
I am grateful for the galleries and museums I am connected with in Europe while working my way in America.
Sometimes it is about luck and good timing!
Coming to the U.S., it feels I gave a pause to my artistic practice (as I knew it), and I became more experimenting and material-wise curious. I do not frame this in an artistic block situation, as I continued creating art, but it wasn’t quite the same artistic approach I had back in Europe. I went through a transient transitive period. Dealing with something “new”, you always need the time to process. New faces, new places, new culture, new language, new, new, new…!
I came to the land of dreams, with an artistic romanticism – I would say. I was not prepared for how political everything is in America, even for a gallery connection and representation.
My art is all about equality, through the sense of narrative and story, based on my own experiential cultural conceptuality. Living in LA is such an amazing opportunity, not only because I am around the Ivy League of Museums and Galleries, but also because I have the chance to be part of them.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I have always been fascinated with the human figure. Growing up I constantly observed the human body, its movements and reactions and was always at the epicenter of the formation of all of my compositions.
My artistic research investigates distortion, human experimentation and monstrous forms from documented resources. All elements are presented through the dominant theme of mixing/blending the body form, creating the illusion of transcended moving imagery.
Inspired by deformity, I started experimenting with the possibilities of capturing the human figure and aimed to create a conceptual value. Each of my artworks determines specific moments and memories, that has been a self-healing combination of studying, understanding and accepting body insecurities and I also captured my own imperfections.
It creates a conversation around the concepts of normality and diversity, and whatever that converts to within each individual.
The process of my recent work is quite distant from personal concerns. It is based on the idea of different alienated forms/scenes/pictures that come together as one unified body and creates a new chaotic image with a lot of existing borrowed stories. In my artwork, identity does not matter. In my newest body of work, especially, I use the figure in order to balance a blending of images found from unknown accounts in different social media apps. That gives me the distance I need from my subject, and it lets me create new stories, based on individual/ lonely moments.
Funny fact is that I experiment a lot with different materials and techniques, but I choose to keep all these experiments in the drawer. I play with printmaking and sculpture, with installations, and a lot with digital art that I create on my phone based on photos I take from existing art pieces. All these studies are almost like performing on different stages of emotions, creating a chaotic leveled-up imagery on the surface that I work. It is a mashup of thoughts that help me connect deeper with my concepts for my final pieces, mostly made with pencil and charcoal on canvas.
I work primarily in pencil and charcoal. I always felt a connection with these materials. They are serving my art in the best way. Also, having greyscale pieces helped me develop more enigmatic concepts. I want the viewer to connect the image to a shadow. Shadows were always important in my work—I’m not talking about a physical shadow, more like an existential or phenomenological shadow.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
This might sound funny, but growing up, I was obsessed (secretly still am) with the Sister Act 2 movie, and in particular with the scene where the lyrics “If you wanna be somebody If you wanna go somewhere, You better wake up and pay attention” were written on the blackboard. Those words were hunting me for quite a bit, and it was a motivational say that kept me going.
I don’t believe there is any secret success ingredient in any field whatsoever; you do what you do best, with lots of patience and belief! Motivation is the key, and never giving up is the keyhole!
It is important not to give up. It is also important to know when to give up!
What I mean is that not all the exhibitions are for everyone, and sometimes can harm your work or your image. You have to considerately select what, where and how you exhibit your work because you have to empathize with what you and your work represent. I have participated in various exhibitions and have excelled with honors and awards internationally, and my work is published and can be found in private and public collections, but always after selectiveness and consideration.
A good example I had to give up is that recently I got selected to represent Cyprus in an upcoming Mediterranean Biennial exhibition in March. Due to a political situation that could hurt my artistic career, and after the organizers suggested me to fakery change my nationality to take part to the show, I chose to withdraw my participation. Taking part in these exhibitions and introducing your work to new countries and viewers is always beneficial for the artist, but the magnitude of the organizer’s lurking political motives forced me to withdraw my participation. Is sad when politics get in the way, and art is sabotaged.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.spyrosprokopiouart.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/spyrosprokopiouart/?hl=en
