Revelations of ancient truths and new experiences of life

Carla Bianpoen, Contributor, Ubud, Bali

It is not for every sculptor to create works that are monumental, exalting and effect a powerful impact on the mind at the same time. But a Greek-born Bali resident by the name of Filippos does exactly that.

His sculptures bring back the greatness of ancient art, the excellence of world famous sculptors and the mystique of Eastern cultures. One may think of Greece with its representations of the ideal beauty of gods, heroes and humans, of Egypt with its figure art and extensive tomb decorations, of the venerated Italian artist Michelangelo Buonarotti, the virtuosic sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini or of eastern mysticism.

It is Filippos' triumph to have integrated the splendor of those classics in his own personal style, transforming the wisdom of the ancients into works that are able to stir the senses in a contemporary society. While this is true for most of the previous part of his 10 year retrospective, the fourteen works on show at the Gaya Gallery, Jl. Raya Sayan-Ubud, seem to be more weighted towards eastern antiquity. This does not in any way detract from the excellence of skill and depth of thought.

In The Journey of The Soul, one is struck by the way he unfolds his vision that, while there is a beginning and an end to everything, and the path in-between may be bumpy, it ultimately leads to the center of life and death.

Positioning a winged male and female in the outward-going rotation of what looks like a spiral shell may remind one of the act of Creation, the beginning of life. The spiral itself varies in the symbolic language of different cultures, one of which represents the soul's after-death journey which leads toward the central home of eternal being.

Filippos has traveled widely, and while searching for lost civilizations and absorbing the wisdom of the ancients, he found the way to his own soul, and the Light which he says is in every person.

It became his overpowering inspiration for the sculptures in this solo exhibition, which almost all take circular shapes with spiraling lines carved similarly to a pyramid structure where the sloping sides meet at a central point.

This is particularly evident in The Seed of the Spiral, depicting a wooden ball, within which finely carved rotating lines lead to its center consisting of a piece of crystal cut like a diamond. The Loving Eye, a sculpture made of onyx in circular form, has seven concentric layered circles rotating around the center point, consisting of crystal and silver to suggest the sun. In The Disc of Being, made of marble, onyx, silver and gold, the human being is central to the macro and the micro cosmos, while The Knower focuses on the act of meditation to stir awareness.

To commemorate the Great Planetary Alignment of January 2001 Filippos has created The Alignment, a circular shaped sculpture that lines up the planets, an event occurring only once every ten thousand years.

Made of fossilized brownish gray coral and white marble, it has a silver disk showing the seven planets of antiquity in their circular orbits while a second row shows the angelic sphere. At the center of the sculpture is the sun, containing the yin and yang symbol of harmony, executed in silver and gold.

Filippos' remarkable sculptures also include the feature of having multiple viewpoints. In Journey of the Soul, for instance, the outer apex or 'omega' point of the giant shell is tipped with a silver disk of the Tibetan mantra suggesting the law or dharma by which all beings are compelled to evolve. The same quality is found in Wheels of Power, which has the American Indian medicine wheel on the front, but the yin yang symbol at the back.

His fascination with ancient civilizations stems from his early youth. This may not be too surprising, as he comes from one of the oldest cultures in the world. Born in Volos (1964), near the ancient marble quarries in central Greece, he naturally felt attracted to sculpting.

Studying history and archaeology spurred his interest in ancient civilizations. Traveling the world, it was hardly surprising that he singled out places like Mexico, where he came under the influence of Olmec Aztec and Mayan art and undertook shamanic journeys with the Huichol Indians of Southern Mexico, Egypt, Mongolia, where he experienced Shamanism and techniques used for healing arts, and Siberia, where he familiarized himself with Buriat Art and Mysticism. He visited Vietnam and the awesome temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. In Bali, the island of the gods, he accomplished his godly creations. The exhibit runs until January 19. Contact: Filippos2001@yahoo.com, or 62 (361) 975386, gayabali@gayafusin.com or 62 (361) 979 253.