Dimitris Antonitsis

This particular imagery emerged in the end of 1980s, when Antonitsis took his early steps in the art scene of New York, at a time when cinema was at the core of his artistic pursuits.

At that time, gender and identity issues were clearly placed at the epicenter of a battlefield. So, he started observing life behind “trenches”, in settings where normality was deconstructed and where the grey zone, as this was defined by marginalized groups, proved to be clearly political. His protagonists are everyday heroes who constructed their own sexuality and most of the times their own body, too. They immersed in the waters of transvestite and drag culture, expressing attitudes and utterances beyond any imagination. Looking at the artistic production of that period, he noticed that each one of the individuals captured was challenged to break through a standardized inclusion, making their own transcendence. Besides, that is the reason why he felt this affinity towards them. It was these photos that served as the starting point of his artistic path.

During the course of time, he abandoned this particular subject matter due to his aggravation because of the conventions that it embodied, as he felt that it was becoming a spectacle. However, notions that emerged back then, such as corporeality, disguise, convergence of the familiar with the unfamiliar, ambiguity, and originality still resonate with his work. Since 2010 he has moved towards sculpture, using his sculptural work as a sharp metaphor of western principles such as overachievement, social power and luxurious consumption.