Nektarios Pachiadakis is a Greek artist who currently lives and works in Crete. He is restless and unconventional, both qualities found in his art, that are not limited to painting. In addition to painting, Nektarios is also a musician and poet and has released two professionally recorded works and a collection of poems. Despite the many fields of art and culture which Nektarios is passionate about, painting is the field that is most expressive to him personally. Nekatrios is a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece since 2010, and has participated in various exhibitions, and is currently attending the Visual and Applied Arts at Aristotlean University. In his paintings, there is a constant search for childlike simplicity in viewing the word together with the need of emerging the subconscious either through self or collectively. Sometimes, Nektarios seems to be fighting rationalism whilst seeking reality for the truth beneath surface. Strong brushstrokes, solid paints, vivid colours characterize the majority of his works making the identity of the creator easily recognizable.
1) Which art movement do you consider most influential on your practice?
I have been influenced by various art movements, from classical Greek and the ancient Greek culture, to abstract expressionism and postmodern movements. I’ve been also heavily influenced by cubism that gave me a new perspective view of the object.
2) Where do you go and when to make your best art?
I mostly work in my workshop for the main artworks but this follows a time of observation and keeping notes outside either in nature or in the urban environment.
3) How do you describe your 'creative process'?
Creating means everything to me, music, poetry and artistic expression are strongly bound. I try to give my paintings a rhythm, a feeling of music and a lyrical mood. Sometimes creating an artwork is a spontaneous and effortless procedure but there are times that it demands a lot of effort, searching, destruction and reconstruction, experimentation and freedom.
4) Which artist, living or deceased, is the greatest inspiration to you?
Paul Klee, Matisse, Hans Hoffman, Willem de Kooning and Frank Stella.
5) If you weren't an artist, what would you do?
I could never be anything else but an artist because art is a way of living.
6) What do you listen to for inspiration?
European music mostly of the 17th and 18th centuryt, free jazz and contemporary experimental music.
7) If you could own one artwork, and money was no object, which piece would you acquire?
'Door to the River' by De Kooning.
8) If your dream museum or collection owner came calling, which would it be?
I am mostly concerned with creating art, although there are many museums I respect.
9) What is your key piece of advice for artists embarking on a fine art or creative degree today?
I’d advise them to be persistent and stay authentic.
10) What is your favorite book of all time (fiction or non fiction)?
The Four Quartets, Eliot.
11) If you could hang or place your artwork in one non traditional art setting, where would that be?
I have already hung paintings in an Art Pharmacy to help ill people come closer to art and to another way of thinking.
12) What was the biggest lesson your university course or time studying taught you?
There is not a greater lesson than a great professor whose unique personality deeply influenced my art and my life.
13) And finally, if we were to fast forward 10 years, where would we find you?
Well, I think presence is the only thing we really have and I am always.
Learn more about Nektarios and discover his collection of paintings.
