Δέντρο

000742 Nikos Yialouris, Tree, n.d., Indian ink and tempera on cardboard, 84 × 65 cm

Against the black night sky, where the full moon appears red, a tree’s trunk, branches, and sparse leaves stretch across the scene. This motif—recurrent in many of Yialouris's drawings of the 1980s—seems to be inspired by the decorative art of the Far East, by medieval textiles, or folk woodcarving. Yet it is interpreted through the lens of expressionism and absorbed into the painter’s personal visual style. The flat, depthless use of colour—black and red—is combined with the white of the paper. The ink vibrates through the reed’s nervous line; the drawing, fluid and swift, reveals the artist’s masterful draftsmanship, the spareness of his style, and his ability to infuse dramatic tension into the humble subject of a tree.