Dimosthenis Gallis

Dimosthenis Gallis, “To the Lascivious Impulses of My Blood”, Giclée Print on Watercolor Paper, 40 x 27 cm

A self=taught artist Dimosthenis Gallis was born in Athens, Greece, in 1967. He has been studying and exploring the techniques of photography since 1990. Gallis’ love of the Renaissance and the Romantic art movement of the 1800s greatly influences his painterly style of photography. His specialty is staged photography with narrative digital compositions.

Gallis’ photography are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Greek Folk Art, the American College of Greece, the Corfu Heritage Foundation, the Athens Municipal Gallery, as well as in private collections. His work has shown in solo exhibitions at the Eos Gallery and the Aggelon Vima, both in Athens. Gallis has also participated in multiple group exhibitions, including the 2010 “Conversations in Black and White and Color” at Ochrophaio in Athens, and the 2001 International Art Biennale in Mgarr, Malta. 

Note: Dimosthenis Gallis’ photograph “To the Lascivious Impulses of My Blood” was inspired by Egyptian-Greek poet Constantine Cavafy’s 1983 poem “Dangerous Thoughts”:

“Said Myrtias (a Syrian student
in Alexandria during the reign
of the Emperor Konstans and the Emperor Konstantios;
in part a heathen, in part christianized):
‘Strengthened by meditation and study,
I won’t fear my passions like a coward;
I’ll give my body to sensual pleasures,
to enjoyments I’ve dreamed of,
to the most audacious erotic desires,
to the lascivious impulses of my blood,
without being at all afraid, because when I wish-
and I’ll have the will-power, strengthened
as I shall be by meditation and study-
when I wish, at critical moments I’ll recover
my ascetic spirit as it was before.”

The artist’s site:  https://www.dimosthenisgallis.com