Dimitris Tzamouranis
05.09.2025 - 10.10.2025
Playground
Monica Ruppert Gallery
With the exhibition Playground by the painter Dimitris Tzamouranis, the Monica Ruppert Gallery presents an artist who has distinguished himself for years through an impressive combination of classical pictorial compositions with contemporary themes. Central to Tzamouranis' artistic practice is figurative painting, which addresses the deliberate play with recognition and irritation.
His colorful imagery references well-known works of art history - such as Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper, Ferdinand Hodler's The Night, depictions of the Pietà or floral still lifes. But the references are far more than mere quotations. Tzamouranis radically breaks with the iconography of European art history by clearly marking the figures depicted - friends or acquaintances of the artist - as people of the 21st century. The protagonists wear streetwear, make-up and have modern hairstyles; they are therefore unmistakably anchored in the present through their clothing, posture and body language.
Tzamouranis uses this pictorial moment of authenticity and presence, in conjunction with the art historical references, to bring themes such as transience, death or the forces of nature into our view or, as Tzamouranis puts it: to stage a place of transformation in which the freedom of play and the seriousness of art can be narrated, tried out and recast. In this respect, Tzamouranis uses the language of the masters, but not only out of an appreciative affinity, but also to initiate a dialog that can be read not only aesthetically, but also politically and socially. The art-historical heritage becomes a toolbox whose painterly repertoire activates and continues our collective visual memory.
His pictures go beyond the visual and invite us to reflect on identity and our social self-image. At a time when art is increasingly shifting towards the conceptual, his work is characterized by precision craftsmanship, atmospheric density and a raw realism that leaves a lot to think about. Dr. Christine Karallus
Monica Ruppert Gallery
Bleichstr. 48
60313 Frankfurt am Main
T. +49 69 219 329 88
E. info@galeriemonicaruppert.de