High flyer

HIGH FLYER

Piece description from the artist

The Colors of (Zen) Golf
“For a short period several years ago, internationally known artist, Olga Stamatiou, temporarily moved from her beloved island home near Athens, Greece, to a spot close to the Mecca of the golf world, in the Lowcountry of South Carolina. Living within easy driving distance of over a hundred golf courses, where one can play, literally three hundred sixty-five days a year, she watched the ebb and flow of bag-carrying devotees, much like the tides near her studio on Coosaw Island. Having never played golf and inspired by a random NetFlix choice, Robert Redford’s iconic Bagger Vance, Olga set out to discover more about the intriguing relationship between the player and the environment, about the quest for the perfect swing. Just what it is that inspires hundreds of thousands of Americans to rise early and hit a little ball over thousands of acres of green turf. She read the books, walked the courses, and talked to the golfers, and curiously, she was inspired not to play golf but to paint it. On the one hand, the result is a vibrant collection of colorful and curious images. A giant golf ball hovers like an alien invader over a hushed sea of anticipating umbrellas. An eerie and fanciful nightscape reveals bubble-like balls dancing on a dual teed green. Contented cattle steadfastly observe a ball in its “lie” while a dubious-looking crow eyes a surefire hole-in-one. There is a sly, ironic tone here, a tongue-in-cheek message telling us not to take the game too seriously, nor life, for that matter. But on the other hand, the palette softens, the mood becomes more romantic, and the figures hark back to an earlier time when life was simpler, less cluttered, less complicated. There is an almost mystical quality about these lone golfers, conveying a feeling of timelessness; here we are truly “in the zone,” where vision extends over the horizon and focus is effortless. There is somehow complete freedom from the world’s stress and anxiety in all of Olga’s golf scenes, presented with an edgy quirkiness and a whimsical twist. She understands the challenge: it is the struggle against oneself. It is one person striving to be the best they can be under the watchful eye of Mother Nature, regardless of the gallery. Olga helps us to understand that golf truly is a metaphor for life’s rhythms and life’s ways.”
By Ann Courmouzis

Other works by Olga Stamatiou

About Olga Stamatiou

Athens, Greece

Olga Stamatiou was born in New York City on March 2nd, 1946. She began painting in 1967, at the age of twenty-one. This relatively late start to her artistic career followed the discovery of painting as a vehicle for cathartic, personal expression. At the age of eighteen, she went to live with relatives in Athens, Greece, and it was there in the heady, intellectually charged, artistically-vibrant atmosphere of the mid-1960’s that she was stirred to begin her formal artistic education, studying with the painter Ilias Dekoulakos. She remained in Greece until 1976, when she returned to the United States and embarked on further studies at Boston University’s School of Fine Arts, where she received her BFA and MFA degree in painting. She also completed a graduate program in Art Therapy at the Metropolitan College of Boston University. She lived in America for the next 20 years, exhibiting and working in the United States. In 1997, she returned once again to Greece with her husband where they live. She had exhibitions in Athens, Greece, and Nice, France.

In 2004 she started a non-profit company called Seewall Child which builds and installs interactive art based installations free of charge in crisis centers for children. Olga and her company hhavewon a 2007 Society in Arts in Healthcare Blair Sadler Award. It was said to be one of the most innovative arts projects demonstrating compelling impact on the quality of the healthcare experience for patients, their families and caregivers.

“One day, a long time ago, I retreated into my room and began to paint. It was an intuitive act, based on the need to express emotions and thoughts, and as in most actions followed by intuition, it was the best choice of my life and has become my closest companion.
Color is my passion and my main vehicle of artistic expression. I feel color so intensely that it intoxicates me. I remember when I first saw a Van Gogh painting, I salivated. The colors were powerfully rich and luscious. I was exhilarated. What an experience! Then later, after looking at a Rothko, I was transported to a different place, a quiet meditative state of beautiful inner- light experience.
Color is profoundly subliminally effective. It can elevate you to many different states and like music, it can calm you, excite you, inspire you, take away your pain, make you feel good, lift your spirits, and bring you to another frame of mind. It’s vibratory force can influence human behavior and is incredibly healing when used effectively.
Imagine a world without color. Color should not be feared but embraced, for it can reveal many amazing things to the human psyche.“

See Olga's portfolio here
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