The Vision of Love and Fury

Cause and effect. Turmoil and tranquility. Chaos and salvation. Emotions and logic. Love and fury. Looking at the works of Kyrillos Veniadis, the viewer is stunned by overwhelming emotions.
It is the general and the particular, the timeless Time and the very specific moment in Time that intrigues the viewer and challenges him into creative reactions.
Kyrillos Veniadis was born in Greece and grew to be a respected artist and a professor of Art at the Politechnion in Athens. During the period of the dictatorship, he refused to cooperate with the regime. Threats and two attempts on his life made the famous Greek painter seek refuge in Canada. "Until the time of the dictatorship, I was a happy artist. My style was semi-abstract and Greece with its beautiful lands- cape was my main inspiration".
Once in Canada, Veniadis continued to paint Greek scenery but now elements of deep anger and protest showed in his work. As time went by, the Canadian landscape was beginning to show; the colors of the trees in the Fall and the blossom in the Spring.
Veniadis was now teaching Plastic Arts and concentrated on painting huge murals. In all his paintings of that period the blue sky of Greece- and its familiar landscape appear dream-like.
Veniadis and his wife Elinoar, an Israeli singer, came to Israel for a visit in 1985 and stayed since then. Veniadis was asked by the Greek Orthodox Patriarch to restore a whole treasure of icons which had been lying neglected for years, and to paint the entire interior of the newly built church at the Greek Orthodox monastery of Bethpage. The artist has since these assignments restored 1885 icons, an unprecedented achievement. The church interior is almost completed.
The church is located on the eastern slope of Mt. Olives, the very place, it is believed, that Jesus set out on a donkey towards Jerusalem. From this very spot, every year, on the eve of Palm Sunday,

the Greek Orthodox procession starts to Jerusalem. Veniadis conceives Jerusalem, in terms of time and space, as the meeting point of past and future. "It is the third eye of the world he explains "it is the center of universal happenings". It is here, in Jerusalem, that Veniadis feels he reached maturity. "Here, hidden concepts and passions burst out. Latent ideas are coming to life."
Indeed one can sense the mystic connection between past and future, the 'what was' and 'what is to be'. In "Vision over the Moav Mountains" this becomes real. The present is serene and peaceful yet it is threatened by the future in the form of religious, natural and space symbols. The threat over- comes the serene; the familiar is transposed into human dimensions that connect immediacy with the past, the present and the future in a confusion of threat and chaos and at the same time the ray of hope that shines beneath it all.
Veniadis' style is unique. He paints with clear and pure colors and combines Byzantine style with Surrealism, Realism with Naivety and it is this special blend of techniques that enhances the immersion of time and space in both form and matter.
Talking to Veniadis is no less exciting than observing his works. His willingness to open up and explain his philosophy gives but a clue to the great love and friend- ship he has to offer. In May, with the opening of his first Israel exhibition, Veniadis' work will be brought to the attention of Israel's art-loving public.
The symbols in Veniadis' work come from religion, science, nature, mythology and the human experience. He dares to provoke yet offers compassion, he challenges the viewer intellectually and at the same time he offers him love and hope. He is not afraid to pro- test, mock and expose and at the same time evoke a sense of companionship and understanding. What makes Veniadis a truly great artist is his ability to execute on canvas what one hardly dares put into words.