ATHINA SHINA (2024)
With good order and harmonisation
Nikoletta Antonopoulou is an experienced and established artist whose works function – apart from their particularly interesting aesthetic parameter – on many more levels beyond the primary one which impresses the eye of the beholder.
The artist chooses subjects from nature and life, given that it is their collocation to which she attempts to draw attention. Nature gives birth to life and life to nature, in association and harmonisation, shaping in her works bridges between phenomena and situations or causalities where the rules are frequently enriched by fruitful exceptions. Through the exceptions, which involve resourcefulness and qualitative transcendences, Nikoletta Antonopoulou has a way of revealing to those who view her works – always with naturalness and directness – the sense of rhythm, the formulation of interaction and co-ordination, as well as the joyousness of everyday life – an everyday life which reconciles the antitheses as it brings to the surface from the depths of each of her artistic compositions the dynamism of certain moments of elation reminiscent of little ‘miracles’ which we imperceptibly experience without, in reality, being quick enough to observe them.
The idiom of the artist’s ‘style’ is expressionistic, combined with realistic features of the subjects, which she usually draws from the world of the docking of sea-going craft and, more generally, from the field of contests and friendly competition. In the reality of ancient Greece, the word ‘agon’ described, at one and the same time, three different things, as we perceive them today. At an earlier date, ‘agon’, at least as we encounter it in the Funeral Oration of Pericles, meant, simultaneously, place, manner, and procedure. It is perhaps from those years that the inspiration of Nikoletta Antonopoulou is derived, as she wishes to bring to life, by her own contemporary artistic means, the alertness of consciousness, the symbolisms, and the multiplicity of this concept of noble engagement in an agon.
The design in the artist’s works is exceptional, as it centres upon the rendering of only the necessary features – moving forms, sometimes pulsating and sometimes vibrating – since the movement stems from the alertness of the whole body of each figure, which is co-ordinated both with the one next to it and with the ‘contestants’ as a whole. Her colours, however, are laid out, on the one hand, with an inner control and, on the other, with a spontaneous gesture, as these are regulated by this gifted artist on the basis of their tonicities and antitheses.
Even if you see the works of Nikoletta Antonopoulou only once, you have the impression that they are familiar to you, though they remain always unknown, as they attract the viewers to discover – depending on their disposition – a different implication of them at every glance. These are works which convey light and rhythmically fluctuating tensions, a breath and force of life, joy and hope –for individual and collective accomplishments: accomplishments which require principles and altruism, concord and sound principles, stimulation of memory, and inner discipline, as well as co-operation and team spirit, with rules and skills. These are virtues of which the artist reminds us with truths and nostalgias, with longings and allegories, but also with contemporary artistic methods and insights. In any event, it was by means of similar parameters that our multi-level tradition took shape, and these enduring values of hers are still alive and life-giving with us, cultivating within us the need to strive (in the arenas of life) with awareness and humanity, as our broadening horizons and, above all, the critical times we are living through demand of us.
Athena Schina
Historian of Art & Theory of Culture (National & Kapodistrian University of Athens)
VASSOS KOUNTOURIDIS (1992)
从 Nikoletta Antonopoulou 创作的早期开始，我就高度关注她的艺术作品，这给我带来快乐。我注意到，她不仅仅在其所具有的真正的表现主义美学天赋方面稳步提升，而且还拓展了不同的艺术主题。她有抓住并且描绘出运动的天赋。她还能从哪里获得这种鲜活的、令人紧张而又活力四射的感觉呢？毋庸置疑，这种感觉能在赛马、足球、摩托车、自行车等等运动中寻找到。当她感受到自由的动作和使用强劲的笔触时，她能有力地描绘出这种瞬间的力量。色彩和风格的和谐表现出设计方面的学识和组合调整的能力。她的表现主义充满着启发性而又严谨的冲动。这种感觉在合理的状态内延展，保持灵魂与手之间的平衡。她的情绪中没有疼痛、苦恼、沮丧、悲痛。相反，你能感受到欢乐、力量。 它在于追求一种成功的人生。通过正当竞争和努力奋斗去赢得胜利。运用这些基本的、与生具来的武器，她激励自己在艺术领域不断创新。
DORA ILIOPOULOU-ROGAN (1996)
动作、色彩、光线：从 Nikoletta Antonopoulou 的职业生涯初期开始，这些基本特性就在她的喻意丰富的创作中巩固起来，在她的作品中与帆船和帆板运动员协调结合在一起。 创作者活力四射、不断改变、充满”火焰”的作品，通过动作、”方向”与奔跑者、自行车手、足球运动员、摩托车手、骑手等运动员的神态，一起给人反复留下深刻的印象，特别是她的帆船作品，达到了新的高潮。 其创造性的能力使其创作逼真、自然流畅、天然、栩栩如生，每艘船既独立存在同时又相互依存，成为多动态作品中不可分割的元素。 超越所有”理想化”的存在，每艘船都作为传递者和接受者，位于无形但又一直存在着的宇宙起源可见的中心，从色彩、韵律和动作上予以支撑，使其更显完美。 通过灵活提亮色彩（技艺，帆船从海天的幻象中具现了（投射。动人的元素——一个步骤中的元素至此超越了世界上的其他事物。 船只在此若隐若现，正在起航或是”奋力航行中”，表现出一种和谐，即至此就将离开相同命运的特殊刺激。
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ATHINA SHINA (1999)
运动、真实和比喻的意义构成了 Nikoletta Antonopoulou 作品创意灵感的起点线。设计中的表现主义元素，藉由她每一个主题写作的姿态和喻意的属性表现出来，让人印象深刻。这些表现主义元素与表现动作、运动、冲动和生动性的色彩强度相结合。率直和传神激活并强化了人物的生动性，在这些作品中由 Nikoletta Antonopoulou 的整体掌控力所激发，与旁观者营造的气氛相比较，并通过马术、行船等运动、生命所须的持久警觉以及对艺术所须意识的不断运用，使这种气氛在其手下应运而生。
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PEGGY KOUNENAKI (2003)
她作品的基本特征就是她试图感受运动员身体的动作，以及他们在进行最后努力时脸上所表现出的情绪。她的艺术作品是由空间和设计的意识以及组织的平衡决定的。她的作品成功之处在于表现出了运动空间的气氛、运动员身体的强度、脸部表情和竞争精神。她的绘画作品中体现出印象主义、表现主义和美国战后艺术的影响。在她的作品中，运动和动作占主导地位，也经常表现在主题作品中，在她的绘画中，运动员的身体和面部是主要因素，让人印象深刻。通过表现主义特征、快速、自由、动感的笔触以及可塑性和强烈的色彩，使元素渐变表现出来。
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