Takis is always attracted to the sphere, as an archetypal form. He called his bronze spheres of the 1950s Inner Spaces and saw them as “a manifestation of a centrifugal force through swelling, akin to a pregnant woman's belly” (Calas 1984: 80). He later created Spheres out of hammered sheet metal reaching the monumental size of 2½ meters in diameter. They are multi-referential as seeds, planets, and magnified biological organisms. In their capacity as sculptures, these works seem to encapsulate either the origin or the destination of nature. Displayed in the open as a group, they appear to relate to one another, and to be at one with nature. Still as they are, they seem to incubate cosmic energies that are to be released at any moment.

I had the opportunity to meet Takis in person in 2004, when I became the first ACG Art Curator of The American College of Greece. The noted Greek art historian Dr Dora Iliopoulou-Rogan introduced Takis to ACG President John S. Bailey from the start of his term in 1975. So, with this visionary and art-loving President’s support, the ACG Art collection was enriched with an early Signal of 1974-1979 and a Magnetic Wall of 1976, soon after their production. In 2005, ACG Art purchased a magnificent Aeolian Signal and received a further loan from KETE of four Light Signals and seventeen Spheres, all beautifully dispersed on the Aghia Paraskevi campus. It makes such an indelible impression on students to encounter art that is so unconventional and mysterious! My personal impression of Takis is of an artist whose life and art is completely merged. He is an artist in with the gift of the mind’s ‘third eye’, the gate that leads to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness.

Contemplating his entire output of Télésculpture, Télépeinture and Télélumière, Takis always arrives at unexpected results and surprising experiences. With his art he inspires a new understanding of the relationship between the four dimensions; the continuum of height, width, length and time. Above all, however, the art of Takis is great for being ambivalent. While being reminiscent of ordinary living forms, plant or animal, this art is a world of its own. Though being uniquely peculiar, Takis’ expression is naturally perceptible by everyone for evoking the higher essence of life; familiar experiences like genesis and thanatos, eros and martyrdom.

Bibliography:

• Burroughs, William; Alan Ginsberg, Pierre Restany; Mikis Theodorakis, Takis: Musicales, Paris, FR: Espace Pierre Cardin, 1974.
• Calas, Hélèna and Nicolas, Takis: Monographies, Paris, FR: Editions Galilée, 1984.
• Kamps, Toby. Takis: The Fourth Dimension. Houston, TX: The Menil Collection, 2015.
• Takis, Anthology, Paris, FR: Galerie Nationale du Jeu de Paume, 1993.

Public Information:
Takis: Sculptor of Magnetism, Light and Sound
Tate Modern, Bankside, London SE1
3 July – 27 October 2019