Angeliki Charalampopoulou

Artist Portfolio

I create art to question, not to resolve.

About

Artist Statement

Across painting, photography, and mixed media, my work investigates the instability of identity—how the self is assembled, performed, fragmented, and gradually eroded by time, memory, and the quiet absurdities of contemporary life. I am drawn to liminal states, where the boundaries between the authentic and the constructed begin to blur, where gesture becomes mask, and where presence dissolves into something uncertain.

Working with chiaroscuro, fragmentation, and textured semi-abstraction, I construct bodies that appear only in partial truths. Light does not reveal; it interrogates. Shadow does not conceal; it transforms. The figure becomes a site of tension—between coherence and collapse, between the longing for meaning and the certainty of dissolution. What remains is not identity itself, but the trace of its struggle.

My practice is informed by existential philosophy and the tragicomic condition of being human within systems that are both indifferent and over-structured. The absurd is not an aesthetic for me; it is a method—one through which I examine how we inhabit roles, reproduce narratives, and negotiate our place within frameworks that demand clarity when lived experience offers none.

Rather than providing answers, my work opens a space of uncertainty. In that space lies the possibility of awareness—not as resolution, but as recognition: a moment in which the viewer may encounter themselves within the fragment, the distortion, the vanishing.

Biography

Angeliki Charalampoulou is a multidisciplinary contemporary artist based in Nicosia, Cyprus. Born in Greece, she approaches art as a way of thinking rather than a discrete activity, working across painting, photography, and mixed media as part of an ongoing process of inquiry.

Her engagement with art began through essay writing and poetry, closely connected to philosophy—a practice that continues to inform her work. Text and image often coexist in her process, with written fragments initiating or accompanying visual works, creating a dialogue between language and form.

Painting forms the core of her practice. Working with semi-abstract figuration, chiaroscuro atmospheres, and a strong emphasis on materiality and texture, she approaches the human figure not as depiction but as a site of investigation. Rather than operating through fixed themes, her work develops through recurring questions related to identity, presence, and meaning. Existentialism and the acceptance of the absurd inform her approach as a lived stance rather than a theoretical framework.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a Master’s degree in Business Administration, which shaped her understanding of structures and their interrelations—from small organizations to large systems such as states and corporations—and the position of the individual within them.

Influenced early on by her mother’s practice with natural and discarded materials, and with music occupying a central role in her daily life, her work remains open and evolving. She began working systematically with painting in 2021, enrolled at the Aigaia School of Art in 2022, and since late 2024 has been pursuing a Diploma in Visual Arts.

Themes & Approach

Core Themes

Exploring Identity, Disguise, and Existential Tension

My work emerges from an enduring inquiry into how identity forms, fractures, and dissolves under the weight of perception, memory, and social expectation. I explore the thresholds where the self becomes unstable—where authenticity blurs into performance, where presence thins into trace, and where the body reveals its own contradictions.

Figurative Expressionism Meets Semi-Abstraction

My work occupies the space between figuration and dissolution. Rather than merging realism with abstraction, I allow the figure to shift between clarity and erosion—constructed through gesture, shadow, and textured surfaces. Bodies appear in partial articulation, then dissolve into light, voids, and atmospheric ambiguity, reinforcing the instability and elasticity of identity.

Identity, Presence and Absence, and the Existential Weight

My work is shaped by a broad constellation of influences across philosophy, cinema, photography, literature, and contemporary figuration. The existential frameworks of Camus and Sartre, along with Baudrillard’s reflections on hyperreality and disappearance, ground my understanding of identity as fluid, unstable, and continually dissolving. The absurdist clarity of Beckett, Ionesco, and the Kafkaesque condition deepen my interest in the tragicomic tension between meaning and meaninglessness.

Artistic Portfolio

Painting

Latest Commission: «Supplemented»

«Supplemented»

Acrylic on canvas, 80*100

2025

Painting Description

A visual critique of how contemporary nutrition culture, marketing language, and body standards shape not only our choices — but our sense of self.
Delivery bags, supplement jars, “0%” labels and coded faces become symbols of a world where health is quantified, identity is optimized, and the human body is treated as a product to be managed.

Each figure, stripped of its face and replaced with a barcode block, reflects the subtle loss of autonomy beneath the promise of “better living.”
The fractured, vivid color planes echo the tension between individuality and conformity — a body built through influences that rarely belong to us.

Created as a commissioned piece for a clinical environment, the work mirrors the daily paradox of modern nutrition:
when the tools that aim to help us can also reshape us into something standardized.

In a culture of constant ‘improvement,’ even authenticity becomes supplemented.

Series: «The Maurice Trilogy»

A study of identity, transformation, and the erosion of the self.

The Maurice Trilogy examines the slow transformation of identity under the pressure of ambition, performance, and social conformity. The series is built around Maurice, a constructed persona inspired by The Success Manager (Οδηγός προς ανερχόμενους) by Maurice Joly — a text that exposes the psychological strategies and compromises embedded in systems of success.

Maurice is not portrayed as a historical figure, but as a contemporary archetype. Across three works — Maurice, Corporate Maurice, and Maurice Incorporated — the paintings trace a gradual internal shift: from conscious participation in ambition, to the internalization of role and expectation, and finally to the loss of self beneath the weight of the persona itself.

Rather than depicting collapse through conflict, the series focuses on erosion through compliance. Maurice does not resist the system; he adapts to it. In existential terms, this trajectory echoes Albert Camus’ notion of philosophical suicide — the moment one abandons inner freedom in exchange for structure, certainty, and external validation.

The visual language of the trilogy combines expressive figuration, symbolic elements, and controlled chiaroscuro. Human gestures persist even as identity fragments, suggesting that what remains is not a person, but a function. By the final work, Maurice no longer performs success — he embodies it, mechanized and complete.

The trilogy reflects on contemporary identity as something shaped less by desire than by expectation, questioning what is preserved — and what is lost — when success becomes an end in itself.

«Maurice Incorporated»

Acrylic on canvas, 80*80

2025

Painting Description

In Maurice Incorporated, the final stage of the trilogy, the persona Maurice reaches the existential point of no return. What once was a man is now a mechanism: the gear replacing the head is not an adornment but an irreversible fusion. It marks the moment where the self, crushed under the demands of the persona, has ceased to resist. Maurice has committed what Camus calls philosophical suicide — the abandonment of one’s inner truth in exchange for the comfort of conformity.

The warm light behind him no longer touches his body; the last remnants of clarity fall just short, illuminating the room but not the man. He sits in a dim, angular space — an interior constructed like a mental cage. His posture is that of someone who has accepted, not questioned. The world around him still glows faintly, but Maurice has stepped out of reach.

The lamp on the right — once a symbol of a possible exit — now hosts a small fly, the Socratic “gadfly,” the persistent irritant that provokes reflection. Its presence is tragically ironic: a call to consciousness sitting inches away from a man who no longer sees. All philosophical inquiry, all friction, all interior rebellion has been shut down. He has chosen the quiet comfort of being a gear in a system rather than the painful freedom of being himself.

The bruised blues, acid greens, and heavy shadows make his suit feel like an exoskeleton rather than clothing. The red shoes and pale hands are the last soft traces of his humanity — remnants of a self that could have resisted but didn’t. His body exists, but the person is gone.

Maurice Incorporated is the portrait of a man who surrendered to the persona he built to survive. He is no longer tormented, no longer conflicted — and that is precisely the tragedy. In accepting the role completely, he has erased the inner life that once strained beneath it. This final chapter is not a fall, but a flattening: the moment when a human becomes a function.

Maurice is now incorporated — not merely in the corporate sense, but in the literal, existential sense. The system lives through him, and he, in turn, vanishes inside it.

«Corporate Maurice»

Oil on canvas, 60*73

2024

Painting Description

In this second stage of the trilogy, Maurice has begun to merge with the role he performs. Corporate Maurice presents him not simply as a man in profile, but as an individual whose identity is slipping beneath a constructed persona. The Joker-like distortion of his face is no longer theatrical — it is the mask that has fused with the skin.

Muted tones evoke emotional distance, while the sharp red shadows expose fissures beneath the surface. Blue and yellow tensions fracture the figure into conflicting halves, revealing a self stretched between compliance and rebellion. The impasto surface introduces instability: Maurice is vibrant, volatile, and beginning to crack.

As the persona becomes habitual, Maurice enters a state of psychological automation. He is caught between authenticity and performance, no longer entirely human yet not yet fully mechanized. The painting marks the moment where the mask becomes the intermediary stage — the bridge between the intact man of the first painting and the post-human mechanism he will become in Maurice Incorporated.

«Maurice»

Oil on wood panel, 50*20

2023

Painting Description

Maurice introduces the persona at his most intact — the moment before fragmentation begins. Inspired by the figure from Maurice Joly’s “The Success Manager,” this first portrait captures the archetype of the confident professional: composed, polished, outwardly successful. But beneath the clean profile lies a subtle tension.

Rendered in cool blues with expressive impasto, Maurice’s face is both precise and unstable, suggesting that identity here is already under negotiation. The rigid suit contrasts sharply with the textured flesh, revealing a man holding himself together through discipline and image. The slight turn of the head — away from the viewer — signals avoidance, a quiet refusal to confront what is coming.

This work establishes Maurice as a symbol of early-stage conformity: someone who still believes in the rules, the ladder, and the persona he constructed. The cracks are minimal but present. The mask is not yet visible, but the psychological strain is already forming. In retrospect, Maurice becomes the “before” — the seed of the transformation that unfolds in Corporate Maurice and culminates in Maurice Incorporated.

Figurative & Portraits

«Nefeli»

Oil on canvas, 100*100

2023

Painting Description

«Nefeli» embodies the primal duality of creation versus destruction. The face is divided—one side meticulously rendered, alive with detail, while the other dissolves into darkness, caught in the half-process of becoming or disappearing.

The piece evokes Schrödinger’s paradox, a subject both existing and transforming. It asks the timeless question: Is she being created or erased? The answer remains suspended in the moment.

«Embrace of Solitude»

Mixed Media (Acrylics & Charcoal) on canvas, 60*90

2024

Painting Description

«Embrace of Solitude» captures the raw beauty and vulnerability of the human form through acrylics and charcoal. The figure, wrapped in introspection, is both shielded and exposed—balancing strength and fragility. Rich, earthy tones and chiaroscuro create depth, blending realism with abstraction. This piece invites viewers to reflect on solitude as both a retreat and a revelation.

«Vestige»

Oil on canvas, 102*72*5

2025

Painting Description

A figure suspended between presence and disappearance, Vestige is a visual meditation on intimacy, detachment, and the silent erosion of identity. Illuminated by a restrained chiaroscuro, the form emerges from shadow not to be revealed, but to be remembered—as if light itself hesitates to commit.

Painted in a limited palette with layered warm glazes, the work evokes both the permanence of classical sculpture and the vulnerability of flesh. The facelessness is deliberate; the ambiguity, intentional. There is no narrative, only atmosphere—no story, only the echo of one.

In Vestige, I explore the human form not as portraiture, but as presence fading into absence. What remains is not the self, but its trace. The last warmth. The last breath. The residue of being.

«Lady and the husky»

Acrylic on canvas, 40*50

2022

Painting Description

A personal tribute, Lady and the Husky was created as a gift for my sister. Painted in acrylics, the piece employs sfumato techniques to achieve a seamless, soft gradient effect, enhancing the depth and atmosphere of the composition.

Chiaroscuro Nudes

»Noir vol.4″

Oil on canvas, 90*60

2024

Painting Description

Noir Vol. 4 captures the delicate balance between vulnerability and mystery. The figure is partially revealed through dramatic chiaroscuro, where deep shadows and soft light create an atmosphere of solitude. Blurred edges and expressive brushwork add to the ambiguity, leaving the viewer suspended between intimacy and detachment.

«Noir vol.3»

Oil on canvas, 70*50

2023

Painting Description

A study in light, shadow, and intimacy, Noir Vol. 3 explores the tension between presence and obscurity. The figure emerges from darkness, softened by sfumato blending, yet remains elusive—capturing the fleeting nature of perception and emotion. The interplay of chiaroscuro enhances the drama, evoking a sense of solitude and quiet introspection.

«Queen Atalanta»

Oil on canvas, 100*40

2023

Painting Description

A celebration of elegance, strength, and form, Queen Atalanta captures the power of the female body through the interplay of light and shadow. The elongated composition and flowing contours evoke a sense of fluidity and grace, while the deep contrast in chiaroscuro enhances the sculpture-like presence of the figure. The restrained palette focuses attention on the soft yet defined anatomy, embodying both resilience and sensuality.

This piece transforms the mythological Atalanta into an abstract yet commanding presence, stripping away unnecessary details to reveal pure form, movement, and quiet dominance.

«Echo»

Acrylic on canvas, 60*50

2023

Painting Description

A study in light, form, and absence, Echo captures a fleeting moment suspended between presence and obscurity. The delicate interplay of chiaroscuro sculpts the figure, emphasizing the quiet tension in the curve of the shoulder and the subtle tilt of the head.

By withholding full identity, the piece invites the viewer to project their own emotions onto the form—turning the painting into a reflection, an echo of presence that lingers yet remains unattainable.

Expressive Realism

«Quest to freedom»

Oil on canvas paper, 40*50

2023

Painting Description

A poignant reflection on displacement and resilience, Quest to Freedom captures a group journeying toward an uncertain future. Painted entirely with a palette knife in an impressionistic style, the textured strokes evoke both the hardship and determination of those seeking refuge.

As the figures move toward the city at dusk, the interplay of light and shadow symbolizes the fragile balance between hope and struggle. The painting serves as a reminder of the shared human experience of war, migration, and the pursuit of freedom, urging reflection on compassion and unity.

«Nostalgia»

Acrylic on canvas, 50*50

2023

Painting Description

An impressionistic tribute to Athens and its timeless spirit, Nostalgia captures the Acropolis bathed in soft light, evoking a deep connection to the city’s history and atmosphere. Loose brushstrokes and a rich color palette bring movement to the landscape, mirroring the passing of time and the enduring presence of the past. This painting is a reflection on memory, longing, and the eternal beauty of a place that feels both distant and ever-present.

«The Solitude of Thought»

Oil on canvas, 60*80

2024

Painting Description

A quiet meditation on introspection and discovery, The Solitude of Thought guides the viewer through a visual journey from interior warmth to the vast unknown. The contrast between the glow of the fireplace and the cool night sky creates a harmonious balance between comfort and curiosity.

The seated figure, immersed in a book, symbolizes self-reflection and intellectual escape, while the empty armchair invites the viewer into the scene. The bookshelf and horizon line reinforce the theme of knowledge and infinite possibility, transforming solitude into a moment of quiet expansion.

«Symi island, Greece»

Oil on canvas, 40*50

2023

Painting Description

A vibrant tribute to the architecture and atmosphere of Symi Island, this painting captures the layered facades, bold colors, and textured landscapes of the Aegean town. Thick, expressive applicarion with pallete knife add depth and movement, while the interplay of light and shadow evokes the warmth of the Mediterranean sun. The composition balances structure and spontaneity, reflecting the island’s unique charm and timeless appeal.

Photography

Series: «Fragmentation of the Unseen»

Annual Exhibition, Aigaia School of Art, 21-28 June 2025, Nicosia

The body, as a metaphor for the fragmented perception of existence is deliberately incomplete. The wholeness of the nude is denied.

Each image offers only what is already known—the past and the present. The future, remains beyond the frame and the absence is not a void but a charged space. A field where freedom and anxiety coexist.

The images pause and they sit inside the tension of not knowing. Acknowledging the unease and perhaps, choosing how to live within the absurd.