Ένας μεγάλος Κερκυραίος Ζωγράφος και Χειρούργος Οφθαλμίατρος.

Η τέχνη του ανήκει στους Σουρεαλιστές ζωγράφους του φανταστικού ρεαλισμού

Tassos Kouris' ART: Surrealism and Fantastic Realism

Για να γνωρίσετε το ποιος είναι ο Τάσος Κουρής σας παραθέτω ένα κομμάτι της αρχής της συνέντευξης που έδωσε ο ίδιος στους AnnaKirsten and `DWALKER1047(August 2007)

Well… You have to keep in mind that after WW2 Corfu (the Greek island, were I was born and raised) was, (in fact all Greece was) very poor and trying to rebuild her dilapidated former glory in Music (Opera especially) and Art in general… To have ambition to have Painting as a solo profession at that time was a ticket to poverty… My father, a man with good education in Music (Maybe the best baritone the island of Corfu produced) did not have art as a profession, and as a pro-education but practical man, wanted his son to have a profession that would always put bread on his table..

Λοιπόν....Πρέπει να έχεται στο μυαλό σας ότι μετά τον Δεύτερο Παγκόσμιο Πόλεμο (Το Ελληνικό νησί που γεννήθηκα και μεγάλωσα,) ήταν,(όπως και όλη η Ελλάδα), πολύ φτωχό και προσπαθούσε να ανορθώση τα ερείπια της προηγούμενης δόξας της στην μουσική(ειδικότερα στην Όπερα) και γενικά στην Τέχνη.....Το να έχω την πολυτέλεια να έχω την ζωγραφική σαν μόνο επάγγελμα την εποχή εκείνη ήταν ένα εισιτήριο στην φτώχεια... Ο πατέρας μου,ένας άνθρωπος με μια καλή εκπαίδευση στη μουσική,(Ίσως ο καλύτερος βαρύτονος που έβγαλε η Κέρκυρα), δεν είχε σαν επάγγελμα την Τέχνη,αλλά καθώς ήταν ένας προσχολικής μόρφωσης αλλά πρακτικός άνθρωπος,ήθελε ο γιος του να έχει ένα επάγγελμα που πάντοτε θα του έφερνε ψωμί στο Τραπέζι.

Μουσικός Κερκυραϊκής Φιλαρμονικής-Corfu Band Musician

Στήν συνέντευξη του συνεχίζει:

So for him painting was to be my lover, but Medicine my wife… I went to an Art school we had then in Corfu, that worked in the afternoons while in the mornings we attended normal school education… There I learned the discipline of classical drawing by teachers to whom I am still grateful… And nothing more, not color, not freedom of expression…

Έτσι, γι'αυτόν η ζωγραφική ήταν ο έρωτας μου,αλλά η Ιατρική, η σύζυγός μου....Πήγαινα σε μία Καλλιτεχνική Σχολή που υπήρχε τότε στην Κέρκυρα η οποία λειτουργούσε τα απογεύματα γιατί τα πρωϊνά παρακολουθούσαμε την κανονική μόρφωση του σχολείου....Εκεί έμαθα την πειθαρχία της κλασικής ζωγραφικής από δασκάλους για τους οποίους και σήμερα νοιώθω σεβασμό...και τίποτε άλλο,ούτε χρώμα,ούτε ελευθερία έκφρασης....

The Flight of the Archangel

Η πτήση του Αρχάγγελου

Η συνέντευξη που προαναφέραμε θα δημοσιευθεί ολόκληρη στο τέλος της έκθεσης

old woman young girl...

Γηραιά γυναίκα νέο κορίτσι....

Chryssalis- immature people

Χρυσαλλίς

La Part De L'Ange....

Το Μέρος του Αγγέλου...

Corfu Bishop

Αρχιεπίσκοπος Κερκύρας

The Full Moon Talisman

Το Φυλακτό Της Πανσέληνου

The Smiling House

Το Σπίτι που χαμογελά

Liston of my mind.......

Το Λιστόν της σκέψης μου.....

Hymn To Spring

Ύμνος στην Άνοιξη

My Coffineta

Η δική μου Κοφινέτα

A Rooted Bird

Ένα κατευθυνόμενο πουλί

Ascenscion Reworked

Ξαναδουλεμένη Ανάληψη

The Capture Of Beauty

Η αιχμαλωσία της ομορφιάς

Achilles Falling...

Η πτώση του Αχιλλέα

Afternoon nap

Απογευματινός υπνάκος

Corfu self-Portrait

Η Κέρκυρα αυτοζωγραφίζεται

Bloody Necklace...

Αιμάτινο κολιέ.

Day And...

Ημέρα και ...

Delusion of Greatness_

Η πλάνη του Μεγαλείου

Funerary Mask of Peace

Η Πένθιμη μάσκα της ειρήνης

The Bedroom Complex

Το σύμπλεγμα της κρεβατοκάμαρας

Nebulosa

Συννεφιασμένη

Self Restraint

Αυτοπεριορισμός

The Old Lady And Life

Η γηραιά κυρία και η ζωή

The Visitation

Η Επίσκεψη

Transient Glory...

Εφήμερη Δόξα

Μερικά αποσπάσματα από την συνέντευξή του.

I decide to post some points of my interview to =AnnaKirsten and `DWALKER1047(August 2007) in order to introduce myself to Deviants who do not know me...

Do you have any formal training as an artist?

Well… You have to keep in mind that after WW2 Corfu (the Greek island, were I was born and raised) was, (in fact all Greece was) very poor and trying to rebuild her dilapidated former glory in Music (Opera especially) and Art in general… To have ambition to have Painting as a solo profession at that time was a ticket to poverty… My father, a man with good education in Music (Maybe the best baritone the island of Corfu produced) did not have art as a profession, and as a pro-education but practical man, wanted his son to have a profession that would always put bread on his table..

So for him painting was to be my lover, but Medicine my wife… I went to an Art school we had then in Corfu, that worked in the afternoons while in the mornings we attended normal school education… There I learned the discipline of classical drawing by teachers to whom I am still grateful… And nothing more, not color, not freedom of expression… After school, I went to Athens to be a Doctor… I finished medical school with most excellent grades (sketching all the time) and decided to specialize in Ophthalmology to serve Vision… Vision that in turn can be used to appreciate ART… And during my studies in Medicine, I had my first book on Magritte, then Ernst and then DALI…

I found my paradise… Color for me was then an absolute necessity… I started reading books on painting techniques, mediums, oil colors, watercolors etc… I self educated myself doing 2 paintings in the size of the originals… One of Greco and another of Velásquez's , mimicking their way of using colors and brushes and then I started my own oil paintings…

Wild things at first, paintings overloaded with symbolisms and meanings as if there would not be another painting…

Later I calmed down, one theme one idea at a time… I started exhibiting to the premier Gallery of Greece, at that time, ZYGOS… Most of my paintings were sold immediately…

Thinking that all my painting life was in front of me, I even had not photographed each painting that was sold… The “catalogue résonnais” was far from my mind.. Pity, many - many paintings are now lost to me and I try to remember the owners so I can take a snapshot of them … The recklessness of youth!

What software do you normally use for preparing a work for display on the internet?

CS3.

Do you have a preference for the type of picture you like to create?

The whole image comes instantaneously to my mind… As a whole. As a real Dreamscape… Then starts the refinement, but not the betrayal of the initial idea… The backdrop (usually my beloved Corfu), the composition, the meticulous under painting, the main painting and last, the lights…

Can you give a brief overview of the various techniques you use?

In oil paintings, classical almost Flemish, execution “lege artis”;
In watercolor experimenting new methods;
In sketching mostly graphite and carbon.

What sort of things inspire your artwork?

Visual and mental inputs… When an image comes I don’t question it… I put it on paper as a fast sketch, and if the next day it still talks to me then the adventure, small or big, starts…

Do you have any advice for aspiring artists?

Learn the essential from your teachers, then open your wings… Don’t be a slave of your teacher and don’t reject him either… Use him as a step, so you can climb toward your own imagination…

And be kind in your critique to other artists… A bravo tends to push an artist upwards, if he is really honest in his work..

Do you have any future plans for diversifying your artwork?

My future plans are to find time for painting, because Hippocrates holds the muse by the neck…

Medicine is a very demanding wife and Art, my eternal mistress suffers lately…

Is there anything else you'd like to add about what you do?

Art is a need for creation… There is not Parthenogenesis in Art… But advances, variations, oppositions, diversifications…

There are shining minds and talents, but even the little stars have their merit in the constellation of Art.