Konstantino Dregos

To give you an insight into the art works and mind of Konstantino Dregos we provide you with the essay “The Golden Thread” by Nick Hackworth.

 “The labyrinthine man never seeks the truth but always and only his Ariadne.”  - Friedrich Nietzsche

Konstantinos Dregos is a smart guy. The smartest thing he said, amongst many smart and interesting things during our interview, fragments of which are scattered liberally through this publication, is that he didn’t feel able to speak meaningfully about his paintings.

I know how he feels! No, wait! Don’t be offended. I’m not being rude. As a sometime critic, gallerist and now a curator, I’ve spent a lot of time talking about art. In that time there have been many moments when the act of explaining images with words has seemed to me to be an especially futile and silly activity. Many moments, when, to be honest, everyone would have been better off if I’d substituted the review / press release / sales speech with two simple words: Just look!

In the spirit of this hard-won wisdom I’d advise anyone looking for insights or guidance on the paintings themselves or searching answers to perfectly reasonable questions such as ‘What are those those V signs doing floating on the surface of that work?’ or ‘Are those squares of felt collaged onto the surface of that work a Beuysian reference?’ to stop worrying or even thinking too much, drop the questions and attempt the albeit impossible feat of enjoying a raw, unmediated, visual experience with the paintings. A little roleplay might help if you’re having trouble: Dim the lights and put on a little sexy, jazzy, mood music in your imagination try to imagine your eyes taking a little unauthorized break from your brain with these paintings. Relax. Let your eyes gently glide over the surfaces of the works… try to enjoy the textures… feel the smoothness of the oil paint and the rough, the seductive mattness of the surface of the scrap of collaged paper… tune into the frenetic energy of the chalked scribbles… slowly drink in those subtle tonal variations as gunmetal grey slips into those dark blue-gray hues… Well, you get the picture.