Snark.art
COSTAS PICADAS
Costas Picadas, the son of a doctor, was raised in Greece, but he studied art in Paris and eventually made his way to New York, where he now lives and works in Astoria. A mid-career artist, he specializes in two-dimensional works and in videos that address, in wonderful ways, idioms based on nature and science, in particular the grandeur of forests and the cell forms associated with immunology, a branch of medicine he is particularly interested in.
His imagery arrives at a realism very close to the actualities that originated the painting. Yet his penchant for a natural verisimilitude is at the same time offset by the very abstract effects he is concerned with, in which different kinds of decorative efflorescences – patterns of curling lines, passages that look like mists, images impossible to conceive of unless the microscope is used as a guide – merge into genuinely large statements of vision.
His imagery arrives at a realism very close to the actualities that originated the painting. Yet his penchant for a natural verisimilitude is at the same time offset by the very abstract effects he is concerned with, in which different kinds of decorative efflorescences – patterns of curling lines, passages that look like mists, images impossible to conceive of unless the microscope is used as a guide – merge into genuinely large statements of vision.
BREATHING IMAGES
For the last few years I have been meditating on the practice of breathing. All life has a breath, but sometimes our awareness limits us from even noticing our own.
I have brought life to my latest work, of which I call "Breathing Images." It's purpose is to bring inner wellness and an awareness of breath. I think it's important that we appreciate the miracle of respiration during a time many of us are affected by a shortness of breath.
In my latest ambitions I have been trying to bridge the gap between art and biology, creating a subject of the intricate universes that exist within us.
Art generally strives to provoke an emotional reaction in its viewers; with my work I try not only to evoke an emotional response but also a psychosomatic response. Numerous clinical trials and studies have shown that visual stimuli can have a real impact on a patient's emotional and physiological state: as patient trials in Louis Schwartzberg's Visual Healing project have shown, the addition of certain visual stimuli can result in a decrease in anxiety, an increase in pain tolerance and even a reduction in the length of a hospital stay.
I have brought life to my latest work, of which I call "Breathing Images." It's purpose is to bring inner wellness and an awareness of breath. I think it's important that we appreciate the miracle of respiration during a time many of us are affected by a shortness of breath.
In my latest ambitions I have been trying to bridge the gap between art and biology, creating a subject of the intricate universes that exist within us.
Art generally strives to provoke an emotional reaction in its viewers; with my work I try not only to evoke an emotional response but also a psychosomatic response. Numerous clinical trials and studies have shown that visual stimuli can have a real impact on a patient's emotional and physiological state: as patient trials in Louis Schwartzberg's Visual Healing project have shown, the addition of certain visual stimuli can result in a decrease in anxiety, an increase in pain tolerance and even a reduction in the length of a hospital stay.
Significant Achivements
OPEN EDITION
Expansion Installation 01
2020, 0:08 sec video, 86MB MP4
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MULTIPLE EDITION
BIOPHILIA is meant to underline those unconscious connections that humans have with nature.
Picadas had a nagging awareness about the way in which we were treating the planet – we cut down and burn the planet, we pollute it and we exploit it.
He knew that art had to play a role in expanding our awareness around the treatment of the planet. And when the pandemic came about, there was no better time for humans to realize how their daily activities contributed to the degradation of the Earth and how those relationships could be rethought. But it was also time for reflection, for humans to see the ways they were also damaging themselves with their fast paced lifestyles.
Those two aspects of the awareness that the pandemic brought are related – the structures of the human organism are but a microcosm of the larger organism that is the planet, so when humans choose to take care of the planet, they will also be unconsciously taking care of themselves.
He knew that art had to play a role in expanding our awareness around the treatment of the planet. And when the pandemic came about, there was no better time for humans to realize how their daily activities contributed to the degradation of the Earth and how those relationships could be rethought. But it was also time for reflection, for humans to see the ways they were also damaging themselves with their fast paced lifestyles.
Those two aspects of the awareness that the pandemic brought are related – the structures of the human organism are but a microcosm of the larger organism that is the planet, so when humans choose to take care of the planet, they will also be unconsciously taking care of themselves.
BIOPHILIA 7
2020, Digital still, 2MB JPEG
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EDITION OF 7
BIOPHILIA 6
2020, Digital still, 2MB JPEG
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EDITION OF 7
SINGLE EDITION
MITOSIS
Picadas' series Mitosis examines the phenomenon of DNA and the transfer of information via cell division. On a broader scale, the series deals with metaphysical issues about the very nature of existence. Picadas explores the relationship between mind and matter in works that surround and embrace the viewer in their soft yet complex environments.
In his multi-layered projections the positive and negative space resulting from the depicted branches and blossoms, become metaphors for spirit and matter. These palimpsests simultaneously reference the division and multiplication inherent in the mitosis process, the theme of his series.
His works undulate, as his elements expand and contract, become abstract and slightly representational, more solid or transparent concluding in artworks that metamorphose into multiple phantasmagorical forms.
In his multi-layered projections the positive and negative space resulting from the depicted branches and blossoms, become metaphors for spirit and matter. These palimpsests simultaneously reference the division and multiplication inherent in the mitosis process, the theme of his series.
His works undulate, as his elements expand and contract, become abstract and slightly representational, more solid or transparent concluding in artworks that metamorphose into multiple phantasmagorical forms.
MITOSIS 3
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SINGLE EDITION
EXPANSION
By partially stripping away the surface features of an image, the artist unearths visions that give rise to both a secret countenance and a psychic inner landscape.
His images examine the intricacies of DNA and the transfer of information via cell division. The surfaces seem to undulate, as elements expand and contract, become abstract and slightly representational, more solid or transparent concluding in artworks that metamorphose into multiple phantasmagorical forms.
His dream-like vistas, with portions either fading into or out of diffused optical focus, offer the viewer a whole new and vastly expansive dimension of hidden significance.
His images examine the intricacies of DNA and the transfer of information via cell division. The surfaces seem to undulate, as elements expand and contract, become abstract and slightly representational, more solid or transparent concluding in artworks that metamorphose into multiple phantasmagorical forms.
His dream-like vistas, with portions either fading into or out of diffused optical focus, offer the viewer a whole new and vastly expansive dimension of hidden significance.
EXPANSION 5
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SINGLE EDITION
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