For the artist Yannis Didaskalou, life itself is the greatest source of inspiration. That’s why he doesn’t think there is such thing as artistic blockages, because when you don't feel like taking anything out of your inner universe, you just have to be aware and notice. He took the first step in his artistic journey unexpectedly, while he was studying mathematics at university and came across a poster with a call for artists. That’s how he discovered the world of theatre and began to express himself artistically. He says that in Greece, art is seen more as a hobby, and this often influences the way artists are viewed and understood.
neoNlitic has something special: it connects art through time. It made me understand that art is timeless. (in Greek the meaning is a-chronos. non-time, without-time, or somehow above time). So I thank the neoNlitic Project for that.
9 women were murdered by different men last month in Greece. Because Yannis lets himself be in-spired by life, he started from this terrifying reality in the process of creating his work for Neo-NIlitic 3.0. He started from the statuettes of women from the Sesklo culture and played with shapes and materials. The result can be seen in the exhibition that arrives now, at the beginning of Novem-ber, in Greece.
Tell beginning of your artistic journey
When I studied mathematics at the university, I saw an artistic open call on a small home-made poster. That poster was my door to my new world. And somehow I studied Theatre and Perfor-mance arts. So look carefully at the posters, maybe they are made for you.
Your sources of inspiration
In my opinion, life itself is the inspiration. Art is an alphabet. A very different alphabet to express our inner feelings, our thoughts, our wordless “something” inside us. It’s all about expression. When nothing needs to pop up from our inner world then it is better just to stand and observe. I think it not about blockages.
The influence of space
We only know everything we have been taught. But somehow, although we don’t really have the words or the sounds, or the images… we do have the idea. We do have a rhythm. We do have imag-ination…
Art in Greece
Art has its own path in each person, artist, city, village, country. It is like an illness. Or a parasite. It can be harmful or not, it can be recognized or not… In Greece, art is recognized as a hobby. This is something. Not right, or wrong. But with that recognition many strange opinions build large walls in front of the artists.
What made you want to join the NeoNlitic project
neoNlitic has something special: it connects art through time. It made me understand that art is timeless. (in Greek the meaning is a-chronos. non-time, without-time, or somehow above time). So I thank the neoNlitic Project for that.
Your work
Last month in Greece more than 9 women were assassinated by a different man.
The society talks about assassination, without targeting disadvantageous position of the women.
Woman statues of Sesklo were the meeting point in my mind.
Changing society through art
Society should judges on the basis of ethic. Not on gender, sex, money, race..
To stay personal and original in your creative endeavors
A part of the answer is somewhere above. Art is all about expression our inner self. And this self is always personal and original, right?
Art is a necessity
Let’s imagine that art is like sleeping. Whatever happens, we need to sleep. Art is a necessity.
What changed since you started
Art is timeless, but me - as a human being – I am not. This means that I’m getting older. Read more. Observe more. Understand more. Or all that “less”. I’m changing through time. So every time the necessity of expression changes. The whole world.
