The Peak is Behind the Mountain

The mountain returns. It is always there, silent, like a totem. Its peak sometimes covers and at other times becomes a burden. The mountain that grew up the painter, that held memories and wounds, now becomes the scene for his paintings. It is the surface where colors and memories meet. It is the border and the call, the threat and the warmth.

Giannis Efthimiou carries the mountain within himself, in the same way one carries his first word. He repeats it, in a way similar to the repetitiveness of breathing. Blue occasionally becomes bright and at other times it becomes dark; a gesture that expands infinitely. As if it has to remind us that the silence of the landscape is the true dialogue.

“The peak is behind the mountain” is the title of the exhibition at Skoufa Gallery, that does not imply a place but a stance on things. It is reminiscent of the truth that is not obvious during the first glance. The peak, which is the desideratum, hides behind the mountain, beyond the discernible. It is what is not visible which is implied, the unattainable that triggers the research. Efthimiou believes that painting is exactly this effort to look “behind” the mountain: to compete with matter, with memory, with himself.

— George Mylonas, Curator