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拍品專文
Baalbek Terrace I, with its balance of vitality and tranquility, is characteristic of Theodoros Stamos’s signature painterly energy: the artist gives depth and light to the painting by skillfully applying endless layers of paint. The atmospheric gray, which dominates the center of the composition, transforms into a ghostly translucent veil that gently envelops the canvas. The purple and the red, asymmetrically applied to the right and left sides of the canvas, harmoniously mingle and dissolve into an underlying stratum. This painting of an immense size invites silent contemplation: multiple layers suggest multi-layered meaning.
The surface of Baalbek Terrace I is dominated by Stamos’ rapid brushwork, almost tactile and three-dimensional: it is a classic example of the energetic style that was epitomized in the feathered colored fields of iconic Abstract Expressionists, such as Mark Rothko. An art historian Barbara Cavalieri, explains: “Like the others among the small group of painters who evolved in New York City during the 1940s, Stamos strives to communicate metempirical content through the painterly medium. He abhors sheer decoration, and he denies the diaristic as an end. His paintings always begin from the most personal approach and, through the painting process, aim at transforming his innermost emotions into an expression of the timeless qualities which unite human experience. It is this goal which unites Stamos with his generation, and it is the individualist starting point that they share which defines Stamos’ difference from them. His self-identification with the pictures breathes from within the works themselves, and Stamos’ unique character infuses them with a nature and touch that is his alone” (B. Cavaliere, Theodoros Stamos: Paintings 1958-1960, exh. cat., Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, 1981, n.p.)
The surface of Baalbek Terrace I is dominated by Stamos’ rapid brushwork, almost tactile and three-dimensional: it is a classic example of the energetic style that was epitomized in the feathered colored fields of iconic Abstract Expressionists, such as Mark Rothko. An art historian Barbara Cavalieri, explains: “Like the others among the small group of painters who evolved in New York City during the 1940s, Stamos strives to communicate metempirical content through the painterly medium. He abhors sheer decoration, and he denies the diaristic as an end. His paintings always begin from the most personal approach and, through the painting process, aim at transforming his innermost emotions into an expression of the timeless qualities which unite human experience. It is this goal which unites Stamos with his generation, and it is the individualist starting point that they share which defines Stamos’ difference from them. His self-identification with the pictures breathes from within the works themselves, and Stamos’ unique character infuses them with a nature and touch that is his alone” (B. Cavaliere, Theodoros Stamos: Paintings 1958-1960, exh. cat., Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, 1981, n.p.)