Ασκήσεις Αντίληψης

In Konstantinos Kantartzis’ solo exhibition Perception Exercises at Batagianni Gallery, the viewer discovers forms which are mostly connected with vital human organs and bones, insects, nuts, trees and other elements of nature. The title of the exhibition emerges from the titles of the artworks, as they are called Perception Exercise 1, Perception Exercise 2, etc. The core center of perception is the area of the brain called Island of Reil (Insula). The Island of Reil is the most important part of the brain regarding the gathering and processing of information that our senses collect from the environment. The processing of all these information leads to the realization of the state of our body and feelings, resulting in the development of empathy and the conversion of thoughts and feelings to intentions and actions¹. Additionally, Pareidolia, which is a type of perception, evolves in the Island of Reil. The term comes from the ancient Greek words “para” (parallel, side by side) and “eidolon” (idol, effigy and image) and was first used scientifically by the psychiatrist and neurologist Klaus Conrad in 1958 in order to describe the psychological phenomenon in which a random inconspicuous external stimulus/pattern can be perceived as recognizable and significant. Pareidolia is a form of Apophenia, which is the tendency of the brain to find meaningful connections in vague and meaningless data and information (such as objects and ideas), derived from previous experiences².

We come across the phenomenon of Pareidolia in artists of different periods in the history of art. For example, in the “Treatise on Painting”, Leonardo da Vinci (1452 – 1519) argued that if we look at walls stained by dampness, we can discover landscapes, remains, rocks, battles, strange forms and other images³, a reference highlighted by Rena Papaspyrou (b. 1938) as well, since herself focuses on the “episodes” or the associative images that arise from the faint natural alterations on the surfaces of her wall detachments. The Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo (1526 – 1593) created illustrations of fruits, vegetables, books, human bodies, and other objects in arrangements that form human portraits⁴. Later, in the paintings of Modernism, like those of Vincent Van Gogh (1853 – 1890), Paul Cézanne (1839 – 1906) and Paul Gauguin (1848 – 1903), we can discover secondary images, created consciously or subconsciously by the artists. Additionally, one of the main advocates of Surrealism, the Spanish artist Salvador Dali focuses on the illustration of his subconscious instincts, the desires and sexual fears that haunt him, inspired by the psychoanalytical theories of Sigmund Freud. He developed the technique of merging portraits and landscapes in his sculptures, which we also find in many subsequent artists. He introduced the “Paranoiac-Critical Method” in the 1930s, which is related to Pareidolia and Apophenia, as Dali places paranoia in the service of creativity⁵.

The Perception Exercises sound like a way of training to stimulate and enhance perception, as Kantartzis almost obsessively produces a large number of works with dedication and passion. With this “practice,” it is as if he is constantly attempting to respond to the stimuli around him and with all his energy, he is trying to render what he sees and perceives. For example, he has created a large number of ceramics in different colors that refer to both walnuts and human brains, but he chooses a much smaller number to exhibit. It is as if he is constantly and “frantically” experimenting and turning himself into a production machine.

Through his works, Kantartzis points out that in life there are different aspects of things. In some of his drawings and ceramic sculptures one can discover forms that resemble trees or mushrooms and at the same time lungs. In them, Kantartzis emphasizes the vital role that nature plays in human life, the inextricable connection that exists between nature and the organism, a connection that is also visible, an antithesis that highlights the importance but mainly the interdependence of the two.

In one of his pencil drawings, we see at first glance a fly trapped in a spider’s web. Looking more closely, we realize that a part of the fly’s body resembles a human tongue. We understand the implication that when we do not control our tongue and let it “run free” and say whatever it wants without responsibility, without “filtering,” we can find ourselves trapped in a vicious cycle. A similar idea is expressed in his wall piece, where a ceramic figure that refers to a human tongue or a snake’s head emerges from an old-fashioned gold frame. On the one hand, the work is reminiscent of Caravaggio’s (1571 – 1610) attempt to expand his figures out of the borders of painting into space, on the other hand, it teaches us that speech is not always experienced with detachment and can easily cross the limits and become poisonous.

We realize that the human body is at the center of Kantartzis’ works, and especially its non-visible side, what exists under the skin, such as the vertebrae, the lungs, and the brain, perhaps due to his parallel capacity as Dermatologist-Venereologist. The science of medicine offers him the ability to look beyond the flesh and extract legible forms of the internal chaos of the human body. His forms, however, do not resemble the brutality found in depictions of the anatomy of a corpse, as he is interested in “playing” with the multiple readings that arise from the phenomenon of Pareidolia, as is the case of the drawing with the tree/brain, where a child’s swing is tied to one of the vessels (which supply blood to the brain)/branches. Beyond the phenomenon of Pareidolia, the empty swing implies the existence of the child and mainly the contact that develops with the parent during play, as the latter pushes/touches the child on the back to rock him. This contact conveys experience, emotion, security, confirmation, with the final recipient being the brain.

In the sculptural installation of two “tree trunks” made of ceramic pieces/vertebrae, Kantartzis wishes to touch upon the relationship between parent and child and the Oedipus complex. The large trunk symbolizes the parent and the smaller one the child, while the metal tubes that emerge from the ceramics and connect them together are reminiscent, on the one hand, of the neurons found in the vertebrae and, on the other, of the complex bond between parent and child. Kantartzis transforms the human body, and specifically the spine, from a simple object of research and personal perception into a place of experience for viewers. Our mind, which is a set of functions performed by the brain and shapes our perception of the external world, determines our attention and actions⁶. Thus, we receive from the vertebrate trunks a “signal” of both robustness and vulnerability at the same time, which guides our movement, our exploration with curiosity but also caution around and among them.

Finally, the processing of meanings and images and the stimuli offered by the works of art are based largely on the recipients themselves. Each of us reacts differently to a work and we give our own interpretations, as our appreciation and perception is influenced by our personal inclinations and prejudices, our cultural background and taste⁷. Also, let us not forget that each project is completed with our perceptual and emotional involvement, as we, the viewers, add meaning and value to the project through our own interpretation and approach⁸. In the case of Kantartzis’ work, we are invited to discover the forms he has created through the phenomenon of pareidolia, but at the same time to take with us our own impressions and make our personal connections.

Stratis Pantazis
Curator and Art Historian

1. Velikis Yiannis, «Συνείδηση – Πνεύμα – Τρίτο Μάτι. Μήπως τελικά μιλάμε για τη νήσο του Reil;» [Consciousness – Spirit – The Third Eye. Are we finally talking about the island of Reil?], Εναλλακτική Δράση [Alternative Action], https://enallaktikidrasi.com/2013/09/syneidisi-pneyma-trito-mati-mipos-telika-milame-gia-ti-niso-reil/ (6 March 2025)
2. As cited in Mishara, Aaron L., “Klaus Conrad (1905-1961): Delusional mood, psychosis, and beginning schizophrenia,” Schizophrenia Bulletin, 36(1), 2010, 9–13.
3. Gombrich E. H., Art and Illusion, A Study in The Psychology of Pictorial Representation, New York: Pantheon Books, 1960.
4. Arcimboldo: 1526 – 1593 (exh. cat.), Musée du Luxembourg, Paris, September 15, 2007 – January 13, 2008; Kunsthistorisches Museum, Wien, February 11, 2008 – June 1, 2008.
5. Gutierrez-Pelaez, Miguel και Gonzalez-Beltran, Sergio A., “Salvador Dali and Psychoanalysis: A Relationship Revisited,” Pensam. palabra obra [online], 2017, ν.18, 64-77.
6. Kandel, Eric R., The Age of Insight: The Quest to Understand the Unconscious in Art, Mind, and Brain, from Vienna 1900 to the Present, New York: Random House, 2012, 225-27, 498.
7. Umberto Eco, Opera aperta, Milan: Bompiani, 1962, originally published in Il Menabò di letteratura, Turin, no. 5, 1962, 198-237. Published in English as The Open Work, trans. Anna Cagnoni, Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989, 3.
8. Alois Riegl, The Group Portraiture of Holland (1902), trans. Evelyn M. Kain and David Britt, Los Angeles: Getty Research Institute, 2000.