Part IV

The painting of Caras passed into a new stage after 1980 when in his works the chromatic values take on a more vital role, without limiting the purely plastic elements, and the space is not inundated with such a vast range of indeterminate motifs. Now there is a move toward an even greater monumentalization of the forms and the suggestion of clearer symbolic forms, which enhance his expressive language. One can even speak of more conversation between the warm and the cool colors, the forms with the space, the active with the passive elements. There is also a clearer insistence on harmonious relations between design and color, form and space and a more poetic voice which is stressed by pure painting values. Without lacking a full measure of antitheses and symbolic forms, his motifs make the painting surface enigmatic and load his works with every variety of expressive extension. In his most characteristic endeavors after 1980 there is no longer any doubt that all his previous accomplishments have been summed up and completed. This course is seen even more clearly in his efforts from more recent times, in his works painted between 1988 and 1991, such as those being shown in the present exhibition. And it is precisely these works which take particular hold on us and grant us the opportunity to get even closer to the entire range of his quests and all the wealth of his painting language. Because through this exhibition entitled "Poetry of the real - Poetry of the imagination" Caras, while always faithful to himself, manages to renew his quests and to enrich his formulations through new content and extensions.

One can confirm this even if he sticks to some of the more standard works of this exhibition, both in the large dimensioned works from the series "Spatial Poetry" and those in the series "Poetry of the real - Poetry of the imagination". And it must be noted that even without the titles, one not only sees but also accepts and experiences the inwardness, the expressive wealth and, above all, the pure, poetic voice as the definitive elements. Thus, while motifs and familiar forms re-appear from earlier periods, their content has been re-vitalized through the new use of light, the rendering of space, the new combinations. The greater schematization of the forms and the emphasis on richer colors with new inner content, the monumentalization, the enigmatic character of space and, most of all, the definitive role of the painting values gives us wholes in which both expressive truth and a poetic voice are combined. One can spot this without difficulty in works such as "A Street in Rhodes" from 1988 and "Vase with Flowers" from 1989, through the monumentalization of the forms, the definitive role of color and the emphasis on pure painting values. Using visual reality as a starting point in "The Rose" and "Vase with Flowers", Caras does not limit himself in any instance to simply conveying his motifs, but gives them a personal interpretation through new and limpidly expressive formulations. In "A Street in Rhodes" the painting surface gains a sparkling, poetic voice, without any sacrifice of the external, descriptive elements, through the monumentalization of the forms, the.. combination of bioform and geometrical forms and the conversation between warm and cool colors. It is the translation between warm and cool colors. It is the translation of the real into painting and poetry which lends a familiar motif a new dimension and a much richer, expressive voice. Without sacrificing the real, the painting surface is enhanced with the imposition of pure painting values, their new poetic voice. In "Vase with Flowers" the imposition of pure painting values is even clearer, which through the active antitheses of the colors, the static and the immobile forms, gives the real its poetic dimensions. Through the colors, particularly the blue on one side, long and dream-like, and the red and orange on the other, which are stressed even more by the heavy black at the top, the painting surface gains in interior vibrations which express the encounters of the artist and enlarge the expressive language of the work. Thus, the artist provides a whole combining the intensity of abstract expressionism and the surety of the neorepresentationalism of "Vase with Flowers", a whole which is capable of sweeping the viewer away.