It felt like a kiss

About

What is it that thou wouldst have in a silver charger, O sweet and fair Salomé, thou that art
fairer than all the daughters of Judaea? What wouldst thou have them bring thee in a silver
charger? Tell me. Whatsoever it may be, thou shalt receive it. My treasures belong to thee.
What is it that thou wouldst have, Salomé?
Salome. The voluptuous young princess who performed the seductive dance of the seven
veils inflaming King Herod to the point that he would bring John Baptistes head in a silver
charger.
Judith. The beautiful widow who allured the enemy general Holofernes and managed to
decapitate him to save her city of Bethulia from the Assyrians. Delilah. The woman who
became the object of Samsons desire and was able to deceive him by making him unveil
his deepest secret concerning his immanent great strength.
Ferocious attractive women that cunningly exploit men are drawn out from the cosmos of
Jeudo, Christian and ancient Greek mythology and become the central subject matter in
Alexandros Vasmoulakis new work. Moving from his previous depiction of vigorous and
dynamic reclining nudes that sarcastically gaze at the male viewer, the artist once again
unleashes the forces that control the conflicting relationship between men and women and
enhances the infamous personality of a femme fatale.
Through a colorful mixture of oil, ink and acrylic, Vasmoulakis female protagonists are
rendered as supernatural creatures. Deities that deviate from images of mere objectification.
The artists rough brush strokes and abrupt lines intensify their Dionysiac nature, which is
playful and humorous, as well as liberating. According to Vasmoulakis, the patterns of a
patriarchal society throughout history have been established due to mens lustful desire and
simultaneous fear of women. An issue that reverberates to the mythical association of Eros
and Thanatos with the disquieting charm of female beauty.
However, the artist distorts their features, suggesting their physical attractiveness without
representing it. He portrays the castrated man, who, disarmed and powerless, witnessed
Death and Desire, confessing that this revelation felt like a kiss. Once more Vasmoulakis
figures become strange amalgams of the past and present that can never be captured and
solidified, but somehow perfectly trigger a stream of consciousness of the eternal game
between the two sexes.
Elli Paxinou
Herode, from Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act by Oscar Wilde