He creates foregrounding social issues, as well as the human relations and emotions.
Alexandros Katigoudis
Aiming at an independent artistic expression
Text: Dimitra Kehagia
He paints and draws under the pen name “The Clown”, as he draws parallels between the clown’s figure and life itself. “Some fear clowns, others love them. They date back to the Victorian era, their faces have been painted in white, vivid or even dark colors”. In his adolescent graffiti days, Alexandros Katigoudis, while still in search of his orientation as an artist, used to sign his works as “COM”, an abbreviation of the English word “compass”.
The walls in his school, the 17th Elementary School of Korydallos, the communal spaces in the neighbourhood where he grew up, but also a barber shop in Miami, paved his way towards the life of an artist. He was born in the US, in 1981, and grew up in Greece. He had his studies in England, and went on to work in Scotland and the USA, before returning a few years ago to Greece, his “base” as he says, making a purely sentimental decision.
“During the decade I lived and worked in the US as an executive in the field of human resources management, I got to know myself better. I traveled a lot, and my first trip to Brazil came as a revelation. It was in the favelas that I first grasped what poverty really means, and I came to realize that people can find true happiness even with the most meager and rudimentary means of living.”
Despite his successful career in top-notch corporations both in Greece and abroad in the area of human resources management, the thought of following the path of art started to gain ground inside of him. Ever since a child the painting classes in school stirred his interest for good. “I can recall feeling wonderful when our art teacher asked us to paint the school’s walls,” he says. In his teenage years, graffiti opened a window to the outside world, but most of all allowed him to get acquainted with an entirely new inner universe.
Alexandros finally found his way as an artist through a series of felicitous events, while still living in Miami, USA. The barber shop where he used to have his hair cut was also a sort of amateur gallery, therefore it was only a matter of time before he had a few of his works hung on its walls. His work initially impressed a client who – to Alexandros’ good fortune – happened to be the owner of a Wynwood-based gallery. The same gallery was then visited by one of the hosts of the Art Basel fair, held annually in Miami. One thing led to another, and Alexandros Katigoudis found himself taking part in two back-to-back Art Basel editions, in 2018 and 2019.
In the USA he undertook many commissions, mostly coming from German, Dutch, American and Cypriot buyers. As a result, his paintings can be found in the four corners of the planet. “At first, my work gained word-to-mouth popularity. For instance, a lady who had seen one of my works asked for something similar for her partner, the same thing with a client who wanted to give a present to a friend of his, and so on. Back at the time, I was even asked to create jewelry cases.”
It is counter-productive for us artists to remain stagnant, deprived of the desire to learn something new or try out something different. To make an analogy, it’s like when we choose to spend time in our daily lives with people who are not inspiring or supportive, with whom we feel no real connection.
A whole ten years later, he only undertakes mural commissions. “I no longer wish to distort my personal gaze. It goes without saying that you are often called to break away from your standards and aesthetics when dealing with a made-to-order work of art. Nowadays, what I need the most is to express myself above anything and anyone else.” This dire need for personal expression gradually drove him away from human resources management, his field of studies and main source of livelihood, while immersing him deeper and deeper in the very core of art. “I take delight in the freedom of creation compared to the rigid rules of a work that often involves a great deal of cruelty.”
His work has been influenced by Wassily Kandinsky, Jackson Pollock and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well contemporary artists such as Futura 2000, Hush and John Perello. He mostly uses acrylic paint, spray and markers on canvas and wood, foregrounding social issues, as well as the human relations and emotions. “As a child, I wanted to change the world. Nowadays, I’m striving to get better day by day as I believe that major changes are triggered by each and every one of us,” he stresses, living his life by the motto “mind thinks, heart knows”.
For Alexandros Katigoudis, fuchsia and light blue are the most powerful colors; the former for its intensity, energy and passion, and the latter for its calmness. “Fuchsia is a color that simply cannot go by unnoticed, as it carries a sense of dynamism and a playful tone. To me, it symbolizes creative flame, boldness and the need to stand out and express yourself freely. On the other hand, light blue mirrors calmness, freedom and the connection to the infinite. It is the color of the sky and the sea, two elements that provide me with serenity of mind and fuel me with inspiration. It represents lucidity of thought, inner peace and the vastness of possibilities. Light blue is far more than a color to me; it is the binding link between Athens and Miami, a bridge bringing together the past, the present and my creative future,” he concludes.
His work as a whole is targeted to the forging of an emotional connection with the beholder. “My primary goal is to incite the audience to think, to feel and to empathize.” In the same spirit, he considers a waste of time anything that does not offer experience, knowledge or emotion. “It is counter-productive for us artists to remain stagnant, deprived of the desire to learn something new or try out something different. To make an analogy, it’s like when we choose to spend time in our daily lives with people who are not inspiring or supportive, with whom we feel no real connection.” However, even under these circumstances, he constantly seeks meaning in anything that takes place around and keeps moving forward.
Having his eyes set ahead, one of his key plans for the future is to create an online community where artists sharing a common aesthetic and worldview will have the chance to get interconnected with one another, exchange ideas, find buyers for their works and team up. “I want this space to serve as an open field of expression, where art will evolve through collective experiences, discussions and creative projects. Through this community, I try to build bridges with other artists, so that we can jointly bring forth new perspectives in art and enhance independent artistic expression.”
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