Costas Tsoclis, a leading figure in Greek contemporary art and one of the most innovative artists of the post-war era, presents his latest visual creation, “DEOS 2025” At the remarkable age of 95, Costas Tsoclis continues to create with the passion of a true pioneer, unveiling a work inspired by contemporary technology. This monumental piece is also the largest portable painting ever produced in Greece, measuring 14 meters high by 17 meters wide and composed of 90 individual, autonomous canvases.
“DEOS 2025” is presented at the Kapnergostasio (former Public Tobacco Factory), an emblematic interwar industrial building that now hosts cultural initiatives of the Hellenic Parliament. In recent years, it has become a significant venue for contemporary dialogue between art, history, and society. The exhibition, on view until January 11, 2026, is curated by Chrysanthi Koutsouraki, Director of the Costas Tsoclis Museum, and is presented under the auspices of the Hellenic Parliament and the Costas Tsoclis Museum.
“This work was created to express both admiration and concern,” explains the artist. “I wanted it to represent a parallel universe — not a mere reproduction of what already exists, but something inspired by it. It reflects awe at nature’s infinite possibilities and fear of human error, misguided connections, and commands. It is also a testament to the necessity of a new reality — a new form of ignorance, and therefore, a new effort to learn. These indefinite and incomplete forms you see are, for me, a new interpretation of the universe, ever in search of its next form.”
Further reflecting on his intentions and the philosophical underpinnings of the work, Tsoclis observes that it “should be seen as a landscape of the invisible — a possible reality that I was fortunate enough to envision and, through my art, give form to, now presenting it to you as a work of art,” adding that “these indefinite and incomplete forms are, for me, a reading of a universe in search of its desired shape. We all know that, through friction, time, the sun, and water, everything tends toward a spherical form — until it eventually bursts. Because one day, it will burst.”
Tsoclis reveals that the vast scale of his artwork is a reaction against the way modern technology — particularly mobile phones — reduces everything to the same small size, causing us to lose our sense of proportion. Yet people still admire what is large — mountains, rivers, monuments — while overlooking the small, even though the small can also be meaningful.
Regarding the painting’s deliberately awkward, almost repulsive color, he notes that it was chosen to shock and make the work unforgettable, observing that “often ugliness is more captivating than beauty.” His intention was also to break away from the familiar grey-blue palette of his earlier works. This piece is meant to feel otherworldly, expressing doubt, questioning, and inner conflict.
Commenting on the fragmented forms within the work, Tsoclis explains that they represent a world still incomplete — or perhaps already shattered — torn between the nostalgia of its past and the search for a new form. These fragments, he adds, may eventually evolve and possibly dissolve into “nothingness” — not literal nothing, but its imagined image. Finally, he urges viewers to forget the creator and focus on the artwork itself — unique, monumental, and unlikely ever to be exhibited again.
In his opening remarks, the Speaker of the Hellenic Parliament, Mr. Nikitas Kaklamanis, noted that “DEOS 2025,” an enormous portable visual universe of 222 square meters, “literally inspires awe,” surprising the viewer while at the same time “inviting them to reflect on the relationship between Art and Technology, on essence, and on the future.”
He praised the long and uninterrupted creative journey of Costas Tsoclis, emphasizing that “seventy years in Art and ninety-five years in life refute every stereotype that might classify him among the ‘weary’ recognized artists.”
Mr. Kaklamanis highlighted that the work “unfolds as a mosaic of life, passion, and constant creative pursuit — before which anyone can embrace their own questions, and that is exactly what makes it so significant.”
For his part, Costas Tsoclis emphasized that “art exists everywhere around us: in the glasses, clothes, and shoes we wear, in our combed hair, but also in the walls and windows that surround us — in everything created or designed by humans.”
D.T.
TAGS: ARTS
