Olympia Auctions

POOL LIFE AND OTHER MEMORIES RECENT PAINTINGS BY ALEX MANOLATOS

EXHIBITION ENQUIRIES AND INFORMATION

Antonia Grace

Olympia Auctions

25 Blythe Road

London, W14 0PD

Tel: +44(0)207 806 5541 Fax: +44(0)207 602 5973 Email: events@olympiaauctions.com www.OlympiaAuctions.com

Front cover:

Diver, oil on canvas, 2022, 86 x 86cm

Olympia Auctions

POOL LIFE AND OTHER MEMORIES

RECENTPAINTINGS BYALEX MANOLATOS

A selling exhibition 3 - 9 February 2023 10:00 am - 5:00 pm (except Sunday)

25 Blythe Road, London W14 0BD www.OlympiaAuctions.com

Foreword

By Emma Bridgewater

Alex Manolatos is an unassuming yet accomplished painter - I am drawn towards his bold graphic treatment and beautiful colours, but even as I approach the first of these Pool Life paintings, my first dawning of easy pleasure is arrested by a small shock of something much more poignant and personal within his compositions.

A little time and a closer look at his work reveal to me a sense of an artist dedicated to his quiet journey of discovery about the pain and the courage we all need to find to face the world. Where better to observe humanity as we tackle this challenge, than in a municipal swimming pool, where all our secret yearning to be sleek and fit meets the reality of timidity and plumpness?

The result is in comfortable and companionable contrast to the dazzle of Hockney’s Bigger Splash - instead we have here A Cautious Paddle in an Indoor Pool, in the company of a quiet but penetratingly compassionate painter. These pool paintings work for me as a revealing key to the paintings he describes as Memories. Still in the pleasing bright palette of the Pool paintings, these works hold a sensitive burden of contained confusion about childhood which is impossible to ignore but still gentle, and characterised by the same humane compassion and acceptance - of life just as it is - that suffuses all the work of this gentle artist.

Emma Bridgewater is a British ceramic designer, author and journalist. She is the founder of Emma Bridgewater Ltd.

For a price list of all works, please ring us on 020 7806 5541 or email events@olympiaauctions.com

Pool Life I, oil on canvas, 2022, 86 x 86cm

Pool Life II, oil on canvas, 2022, 86 x 86cm

Geranium I, pencil on paper, 2016, 51 x 45cm

Siesta, Spetses (sea urchins), oil on canvas, 2022, 80 x 75cm

In March 2020 when we were all told to stay at home because of the Covid pandemic, I imagined that our lives would change dramatically and wondered how on earth we were going to combat the inevitable monotony of isolation. The internet came to our rescue to some degree, sorting out much of our evenings' entertainment. In my work life, I found delving into memories of my childhood for inspiration took on a new and more important meaning, allowing me to feel grounded at this time of crisis.

These memories were often fleeting events which had lodged in my mind and which I now had the time to explore more fully. My other preoccupation while stuck in the house was imagining our eventual return to 'normality'. The prospect of getting back to my regular swimming routine at the local public pool took on a new significance, a chance once again to interact with other people in communal activity.

Pool Life III, oil on canvas, 2022, 121 x 121cm

Siesta, Spetses (starfish), oil on canvas, 2022, 38 x 38cm

Chanias Beach, 1966, oil on canvas, 2022, 65 x 65cm

Early Morning Fishing, Crete, 1968, oil on canvas, 2022, 91 x 91cm

Spa, oil on canvas, 2022, 126 x 126cm

Pool Life IV (school children), oil on canvas, 2022 50 x 50cm

Pool Life V (floating), oil on canvas, 2022, 112 x 112cm

Pool Life VI (floating), oil on canvas, 2022, 112 x 112cm

My childhood was punctuated by constant packing and unpacking as we travelled from one place to another: first Paris, then Moscow, then Athens and finally London, interrupted by yet two more years back in Athens. My parents were stuck in an unhappy marriage, my father battling with severe depression, leaving my mother, in effect, a single parent. I vividly remember a time when we were leaving Athens for London and my mother was up a ladder in our empty sitting room dismantling a light while I drew her in felt tips. I was acutely aware of my father's absence and my mother's difficult task of keeping the show on the road.

Pool Life VII (old age), oil on canvas, 2022, 55 x 55cm

Moving, 1967, oil on canvas, 2022, 96 x 96cm

Old Age I, pencil on paper, 2022, 70 x 50cm

Life Class Remembered, oil on canvas, 2022, 100 x 100cm

Spetses, pencil on paper, 2022, 70 x 50cm

Wounded Sparrow, Ekali, 1966, oil on canvas, 2022, 128 x 128cm

Getting out there and participating in 'normal' life became a yearning during the lockdown years. I imagined myself back to swimming in my local pool with its echoing architecture and particularly stark lighting. lt seemed the perfect setting to explore an old preoccupation of mine: the relationship and interaction between people in a public space. A friend of mine calls it 'municipal angst', which sums it up well.

Pool Life IX, oil on canvas, 2022, 126 x 126cm

Pool Life VIII, oil on canvas, 2022, 40 x 40cm

Pool Life X, oil on canvas, 2022, 65 x 65cm

Greek Picnic, Yaya, oil on canvas, 2022, 76 x 76cm

Geranium II, pencil on paper, 2019, 75 x 75cm

Mother and Clown, oil on canvas, 2022, 130 x 130cm

Garage Forecourt, oil on canvas, 2022, 45 x 45cm

Stockwell Fancy Dress Party, oil on canvas, 2022, 76 x 76cm

Dimitri (showman), pencil on paper, 2021, 70 x 50cm

Dimitri, pencil on paper, 2021, 70 x 50cm

I II III IV

Swimmers I - IV, pencil on paper, 2022, 19 x 19cm (each)

Pool Life XI, oil on canvas, 2022, 36 x 36cm

Geranium III, pencil on paper, 2022, 19 x 19cm

Geraniums have always reminded me of home – Greece. They take me back to stiflingly hot courtyards, neat rows of freshly-watered pots carrying the knotty-stemmed plants with their starkly bright colours infusing an earthy scent into the still air.

Geranium IV, pencil on paper, 2022, 84 x 84cm

Old Age II, pencil on paper, 2021, 70 x 50cm