Panteleimon Souranis

Interview to newspaper“Pontiki”

The sculptor

“Each period of civilization creates an art that is specific in it and which will never see reborn” Wassily Kandinsky have said many years ago. That is the period that Pantelis Souranis wants to represent. Influenced by the Greek’s economical crisis he represents this period of time and fights the frivolous way people face their problems. Marble sculpting is a demanding and difficult art .  It is an art in which you remove something only when it is not needed. Born and raised in Tinos the island that has been the home of a centuries old tradition on fine arts. However he didn’t follow his parents’ career as they were not sculptors. He chose marble sculpting by himself. The word sculptor means admiration and respect to him. He prefers “expression in marble” feeling it as a matter of great importance .

He studied marble sculpting in the School of Fine Arts of Panormo in Pyrgos and has been awarded for his skills at a very young age. Today he is working in the restoration of a small wooden but famous not far from the entrance of the Acropolis , the Sanctuary of Asklepios. During the past few years he has worked as an art director in some of the best marble worskshops in Athens. He made his living by crafting decorative sculptures withdrawing passion from his own art. The art gallery Techni-chro (Cyclades ) is the second display of his work.

The title means to practise art, something that comes from the Delphic sayings. Talking about his exhibition he describes it  ‘’optimistic because it hides a tranquil battle in it that aims to love .” It lets the subconscious free to imagine his “children” however it likes.

He is influenced not only by the greatest Greek sculptor Phidias and other sculptors of ancient Greece, but also by Michelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini the Italian Renaissance sculptors .

“The best Greek sculptor and significant figure of modern Greek however, is the tortured Yannoulis Chalepas. The absence of sculptors’ promotion is something that worries him, because as he says

“ People don’t conceive the difficult work hidden in the art of sculpting in what they see in Acropolis.”

The idea that the sculptor of the School of Fine Arts is the artist and the man who carves the marble are different persons is not true , as most marble sculptors are artists and carvers at the same time.

In the past he had refused to sell his sculptures despite his economical difficulties . Why? “ because my sculptures hadn’t thrilled them”. He keeps dreaming of only one thing : of becoming the sculptor of souls, the sculptor  who will awaken preponderant feelings to those who have souls of course.