Portraits of Power and Paradox: A Satirical Double Series
 

In the Portraits of Power and Paradox part of this show, Polyvios Christoforos renders a cast of contemporary public figures with sharp satirical edge and theatrical exaggeration. These painted caricatures—at once grotesque and magnetic—confront the viewer with a gallery of authority, ideology, and cultural narrative. The series includes political leaders, cultural influencers, and historical figures: Donald Trump, Andrew Moffat, Fatima Shah, Gavin Newsom, Javier Milei, Dana Schwartz, Xi Jinping, and Käthe Kollwitz.

Each portrait pushes the familiar into the surreal, exaggerating public personas until they begin to fracture under the pressure of their own contradictions. Christoforos invites us to see these individuals not only as personalities, but as emblems—proxies for deeper tensions in modern life: the performance of power, the collision of values, the elasticity of truth.

Donald Trump, rendered with vivid bravado, becomes an icon of chaos and spectacle—equal parts game show host and populist strongman. British educator Andrew Moffat and parent-activist Fatima Shah are placed in deliberate proximity: one representing the progressive push for inclusion in public education, the other a defender of cultural conservatism. Their inclusion highlights a friction central to many liberal democracies—whose values define the common good?

California governor Gavin Newsom appears polished to the point of plastic; a gleaming figure of progressive ambition whose smooth surfaces conceal political compromise. In contrast, Argentina’s Javier Milei emerges with wild eyes and manic gestures, his anti-establishment zeal bordering on the apocalyptic. Dana Schwartz, whose work lives at the intersection of media, critique, and personality, is painted with a wry touch—both participant in and commentator on the system she navigates.

Xi Jinping’s portrait, by contrast, is flat and opaque—deliberately withholding expression. He is the portrait of centralized control and symbolic power, presented without emotion, but heavy with implication. Finally, Käthe Kollwitz, the only historical figure in the series, is rendered with quiet gravity. Her empathetic gaze and somber tones are a poignant counterbalance to the theatricality of the others—a reminder of art’s power to bear witness rather than manipulate.

In a companion series, Christoforos introduces a second group of caricatures: the cast of Gilligan’s Island. These iconic television characters—Gilligan, the Skipper, the Professor, Mary Ann, Ginger, and Mr. and Mrs. Howell—are drawn with the same satirical brush, not as nostalgic figures, but as archetypes: the fool, the authoritarian, the intellectual, the wholesome ideal, the seductress, the aloof elite. By setting these castaways alongside the figures of political and cultural consequence, Christoforos blurs the line between fiction and governance, between the sitcom and the state.

The parallels are provocative but not prescriptive. Trump’s chaotic energy echoes both Skipper’s bluster and Gilligan’s unintentional sabotage. Newsom might fit the Professor’s mold of technocratic confidence, while Milei’s frantic performance pulls him into absurd territory. The ideological tension between Moffat and Shah takes shape in the contrast between Mary Ann’s sincerity and Ginger’s performative glamour. Schwartz, fluent in meta-commentary, floats between those roles—observing and participating all at once. Even Xi Jinping and the Howells share a detached, curated authority, their power quiet, but total.

This pairing of political satire and television allegory reveals a deeper thesis: that the stagecraft of modern public life often mirrors the tropes of entertainment. Whether governing nations or shipwrecked on an island, people reenact the same dramas—of control, confusion, charm, ideology, and ego.

In Christoforo’s hands, satire becomes a tool not only to mock, but to reveal. These portraits are not simply exaggerations—they are psychological x-rays of a society spinning in circles, unsure whether it is a democracy, a reality show, or a rerun of something much older.
Essay written by Annette Sykes, Polyvios' Mentor, with ChatGPT
 

Essay: Liminal Light: The Greek Paintings of Polyvios Christoforos
 

In this part of his latest solo exhibition, Liminal Light, Polyvios Christoforos invites viewers into a vibrant, emotional landscape shaped by memory, identity, and the geography of belonging. Featuring a series of large-scale acrylic paintings depicting scenes from Greece, this collection draws directly from Polyvios’ personal history. These images are more than representations of places—they are portals, access points into a liminal state of being where time slows, light bends, and the soul rests. Here, the viewer is not just a spectator but a participant in a deeper, emotional recalibration—a moment of peace, joy, and wholeness that mirrors the artist's own experience.

Each canvas acts as a keystone, grounding the viewer in a dreamlike Mediterranean world. In one piece, a wooden boardwalk leads to the sea under a kaleidoscopic sky, inviting the eye and body forward in a quiet ritual of passage. The composition, rich in warm tones and long shadows, evokes a sense of invitation—a call toward something sacred just beyond the horizon. Another painting shows a simple table and chairs perched on a whitewashed terrace, overlooking the Aegean Sea. A bowl of fruit, the shifting blue of the water, and the soft presence of flowering plants create a scene of ordinary beauty that holds extraordinary emotional charge. These are not static landscapes; they breathe with memory and longing, with the unmistakable pull of return.

At the heart of this work is family. Polyvios' repeated visits to Greece with his mother and father have been foundational, forming a narrative of connection, culture, and renewal. These summer trips—marked by sunlight, sea breezes, and shared meals—offered him a space to feel grounded and joyful. That sense of comfort and belonging is transferred onto the canvas, becoming a gift for the viewer. By painting these moments with vibrant brushstrokes and intuitive compositions, he transforms memory into a universal invitation: to step out of the noise of the everyday and into a place of reflection and healing.

In this way, Polyvios’ Greek landscapes are more than nostalgic recollections. They are touchstones—sacred spaces that open a liminal threshold between past and present, self and other, earth and spirit. They speak to the power of place in forming identity, and the way travel—especially homeward travel—can reinforce not just familial bonds but internal peace.

This exhibition asks you to slow down. To stand in front of each painting and allow it to wash over you like warm sunlight on a stone wall. To recognize your own longing for clarity, for joy, for stillness. As you witness these scenes drawn from the artist’s heritage and heart, may you too find a moment of quiet, a flicker of memory, and a glimpse of the wholeness that lies just beyond the edge of the frame.
Essay written by Annette Sykes, Polyvios' Mentor, with ChatGPT