Initiated into the Byzantine conception of art by Kontoglou, Tsarouchis, and Pikionis and with Pericles Giannopoulos’ theoretical background, Manos Faltaits explores in his painting the materials that compose the light of Greekness, reaching the flame of the candle and not the sun, the shade of the vine and not the bright glare, the inside of a cool basilica and not its whitewashed coating.
 

The child and the darkness ….

Adults often associate the transparent clarity of a child's gaze with positive, bright emotions where evil and darkness have no place.

But if we examine things from within and try to remember truthfully all that happened to us in our childhood, a plethora of negative emotions surfaces: sadness, anger, frustration, petty grudges, despair, and more, which we simply could not identify when they flooded us and obviously could not be controlled once they appeared – and this lack of control is what we perceive as innocence at the end – combined with the fact that each of these emotions has an unparalleled purity, a shiny transparency since it does not involve rational defenses and bipolar syndromes.

The painting of Manos Faltaits possesses that quality. He has a childish look but the look of a child that remembers his darkness, with the same purity that he remembers his light.
Manos Faltaits traces his memories in his painting, absolving them, purifying them through this childish gaze, which does not judge but merely indicates and empathizes. With meager and humble materials, just like any child expresses himself with whatever materials he is given, he articulates a visual speech that is rough, and raw, yet dense with emotion and descriptive clarity.

As with most children, the boundaries between dream, fantasy, and reality are blurred. Their materials are indistinguishably mixed in tight compositions where idealization embraces decay, admiration embraces realism, bitterness embraces satire, and sadness embraces pleasure.

A reflection of a complex and mysterious world, both simple and inextricable, Manos' works illuminate and are illuminated by the shadow of the Greek Light, by its fortifier, and by its collateral losses. It is not the marble column itself bathed in the bright sun of Greece, it is the shadow on its side and that undefined space between them that Manos investigates and tries to document. Initiated into the Byzantine art conception by Kontoglou, Tsarouchis, and Pikionis and with Pericles Giannopoulos’ theoretical background, Manos Faltaits explores in his painting the materials that compose the light of Greekness, reaching the flame of the candle and not the sun, the shade of the vine and not the bright glare, the inside of a cool basilica and not its whitewashed coating.

Manos is not blinded by Greekness because he knows well that he is part of it and so his paintbrush becomes richer with tones and semitones. With his deep knowledge and experience, he opens up a palette of shades that lead contemplation to the limits of prayer and meditation. Manos' paintings are experienced by the viewer not as a religious icon but rather like a churchgoer living the divine drama during the week of the Passion.

The message is ultimately not concealed in the strokes but in the undertones of colors and in the dialogue it achieves between form and color. That would be an explanation if one feels compelled to search for some meaning, which is not necessary, of course.

Manos' painting, however, cannot be categorized into any aesthetic movement; it transcends any attempt at classification because it moves without restrictions beyond any frame or shape, as its creator himself proceeded throughout his life, unaffiliated and revolutionary.

A child plays hidden under the table …..

Manos Economakis