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the
review in Vibe magazine:
"His
bizarre
fantasy paintings and works draw the eye deep
into the
unknown. With such a steady and expert
hand behind the brush, the
Vakras images will astonish and amaze as the
eye looks around...at the
life-like resemblances and eclectic fluidity
with which the images are
executed."Tessie Virgiotis, Vibe
magazine. June 1999review of the solo
exhibition at Roar Studios in
Melbourne, June 1999
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the
online
review by Jane Rocca which appeared on the age
city search
website on the February - March 2000
exhibition at the CASspace
windows. (It was still accessible on-line
until late August 2001, but
appears to have since been archived)
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Demetrios'
digital images were also reproduced in Digital
photography design magazine, in the Autumn
& Winter editions of 2001.Images reproduced - reaperdactyl,
skeletised warmachine, & demolisher
suspended -appeared as part of the "winning
entries and [top] 100 images from the IDAA
exhibition. " This was the inaugural International
Digital Art Awards.
Another
of Demetrios' digital images appeared in the Portfolio
Edition of Digital Publishing Design
Graphics, issue #78 January 2002.
The
webdoctor from INTERNET.AU
magazine reviewed this site in a full-page review,
issue 81/July 2002,
p.94:"...this is without doubt the Best. Web doctor.
Ever....the
surreal and Fantastic Art of Demetrios Vakras Web site
is one of those
sites you want to frame and take home with you. This
is an exceptional
online exhibition of paintings, drawings and
surrealistic digital
images...It captured my imagination from the get-go
and lured me in
quickly and seductively. ...The content is
unmistakably magnificent,
the technical construction of the site is also worthy
of an award.
...the design and architecture are all excellent.
...Full of
near-disturbing artistic content - very surrealistic
in style and form
- it's also a delight for the senses and captures the
visitor's
attention quickly and with a sharp intake of breath.
I'm not ashamed to
admit it I could give ten stars out of five, I would."
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The
joint exhibition "Amalgam" with
Lee-Anne Raymond was reviewed by Jane
Canaway of the Moonee Valley Community
News.The article appeared on page 9 on
the 23/4/2002.
(...shortly
after this show I had a long overdue
hair-cut.)
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An
article written by Demetrios critiquing the
popularity of Patricia Piccinini was published
in the inaugural issue of EastWest Arts.
The
article,
"Patricia
Piccinini: a dissenting voice",
appeared
on pp. 92-94.
The
article was not merely published, but was
paid for (!) by the magazine.
"Demetrios
wrote
to critic, Peter Hill [of the SMH], to
protest about a highly
uncritical review of Patricia Piccinini. He
was called a 'looney' for
his trouble. Here he defends his
unfashionable position", John
McDonald, editor.
EastWest
Arts: Australia, Asia & Beyond
Inaugural
issue, September-November 2004
issn
14499266
www.eastwestpublishers.com.au
(Sadly
EastWest Arts has since folded. The original
pre-edited version of the article can be
seen here.)
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An
article on Demetrios' digital images was
published in ProPhoto magazine.
ProPhoto
:The Magazine For Imaging Professionals
April
2005, Volume 61. No. 4
issn
1322395x
Profile
by Barrie Smith. pp. 42-44
"The
traditional
art market has experienced some ups and
downs in recent
years, but there is a growing interest in
buying photographic art.
Demetrios Vakras is a digital artist, who
grounds his work in basic,
solid photography." Barrie Smith
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Two
of Demetrios' paintings were included in the
book Carnivora, The Dark Art of
Automobiles, by Les Barany (best known
as Giger's agent).
Les
Barany Books
"Carnivora":
The book by Les Barany is available
on Amazon.
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Gerhard
Habarta has recently published his book Lexikon
der phantastischen Künstler. It is
available on Amazon.de
It
features over 1100 artists of symbolism,
fantastic art and surrealism!
Included
in their number is a small entry on my work
(left).
Though
some
fantasy art (kitsch), of the like produced
by Frazetta, Vellejo
and Brom, is included, the vast majority of
works reproduced are of a
very high quality!
Though
the image quality of the works reproduced in
the book is not as good as it might have
been it is well worth buying!
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exhibition
of 2009
2012 "REVIEW” OF THE HUMANIST TRANSHUMANIST EXHIBITION OF 2009 - well, sort-of
The
exhibition Humanist Transhumanist
(an umbrella and two surrealists)
was held in 2009 at a then,
recently-opened Melbourne gallery,
"Guildford Lane Gallery" (which
has since closed). It was a joint
exhibition that featured both my
art and that of Lee-Anne Raymond.
The exhibition was
turned into a disaster by the
reactions of gallery owner, Robert
Raymond Cripps, to an essay
accompanying one of my paintings.
This essay, critical of
religious-based values, argues that
we must arrive at our values by the
application of reason. Cripps
declared that this was racist
because, included in the criticism
of religion, was criticism of Islam.
Somehow, Islam is not a religion? We
were ordered out of the gallery on
the opening night of our own
exhibition. We wrote of this and of
subsequent interactions with Cripps
(vakras
link / lee-anne
link). Cripps decided that he
would sue for defamation… We
commenced proceedings against Cripps
for breach of contract in the VCAT
(state small-claims tribunal). The
VCAT claim was eventually folded
into the defamation case and the
judicial orders for this were made
available online by the Tribunal ( Australasian
Legal Information Institute ).
The article below, from the
Melbourne Observer, references the
information that had been made
publicly available by the VCAT. This
article cites what might be taken to
be legal threats against that
paper by Cripps’ lawyer. It also
however appears to us to be a
convoluted threat by Cripps to apply
for aggravated damages against us
because someone else wrote about the
matter!
Above,
Melbourne Observer, 30 May 2012,
"'Racist' allegation" against
"Guildford Lane Gallery operator"
Below,
Melbourne
Observer, 18 July 2012:
Cripps "will [now] be entitled to
aggravated damages"
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