Statement
Nancy Stella Galianos is a painter whose work is divided into three main spheres: landscape, floral composition and abstract expressionism. Interested by the visual arts from a very young age, she favors acrylic and, more recently, pastels.
Her exploration of abstraction led her to create works of large, medium and small formats, whose spontaneity is exemplary. Inspired and even supported by music, whether classical music or jazz, she sets her pace on the canvas in an explosion of colors spread with great mastery. This approach allows her to release various emotions without control or preconceived ideas, in the manner of the Automatists. Borduas, Riopelle and Ferron are some of the important models in her conception of art.
As a fervent traveler, Galianos uses pastel and watercolors as her material for it is easier to transport. This is how she focuses on reproducing small natural scenes of landscapes and seascapes. Also, floral exploration has been gaining more attention in her creation. In spite of the figurative aspect of these works, one finds there is always the same energy and spontaneity as well as the great control of the colors.
Biography
Nancy Stella Galianos is an artist born in Montreal to Greek Canadian parents. Through her contemporary and abstract expression, she conveys a repertoire of emotions through her sensitivities of the colors and brushstrokes that she applies on her canvases.
Her interest in drawing and painting was stimulated at an early age while she spent her childhood and her adolescence in the urban atmosphere of New Jersey. Influenced and encouraged by her art teachers, her creative vision is nourished by the diversity of her experiences.
In the late ’60s, Nancy participated in various art workshops at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal. A few years later, she completes her studies in Studio Art at Concordia University. Later she studies Communications at the University of Montreal and then starts a career in various business environments. Combined with trips to Europe and South America, both her experience in business and international trips enriches her culture and sensitivity and gives essence to her art.
Retired since 2010, Nancy is fully dedicated to create, in a constant renewal, a universe of a dynamic interpretation of different images with defiant bold colors and strokes, which are expressed via an elixir of emotions and energy. The birth of her art becomes a passionate adventure that becomes a constant effervescent evolution.
Still today, Nancy regularly attends art workshops. She lives in Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Quebec.
About the Artist
The abstract expressionistic paintings of Canadian artist Nancy Stella Galianos are characterized as much by her bold use of color and brushstroke as by her free-flowing forms. Colors are used with great intention, expanding the compositional elements exponentially by adding a depth of meaning to the work. Here, red conveys passion, yellow warmth and comfort, purple spirituality, blue peace, white purity, and pink unconditional and sensual love. The ways in which Galianos wields these colors is entirely instinctive, painting with movement in various forms and letting her brush or palette knife determine the way the colors are spread and the forms emerge across the canvas.
What makes Galianos’ work so dynamic is the way that she constantly explores new combinations of colors and forms within the two dimensional confines of each piece. She masterfully combines elements of light, color, and movement to create an array of shapes and impressions on the canvas. Using pure basic colors and refined lines, she creates forms and shapes that are entirely free and full of light. For Galianos, there are no chromatic boundaries. Instead, colors work to create emotive explosions on the page, imbuing each of her works with meaning and the sense of layers of complexity. In Galianos’ creative process, both music and poetry play a pivotal role. The artist herself explains that “When I paint, I listen to music and then it becomes a spiritual adventure and dance, a connection between peace, balance, and harmony”. In this way, her art is able to intersect and interact with the emotions the viewer already feels, hopefully transporting the audience to another dimension of space and time where they can experience an uplifting sense of inspiration - “a place where emotions profoundly touches the soul”.
Editorial Board – Agora Gallery, Chelsea, New York, NY
ARTisSpectrum, vol. 30, May 2014, p. 58
Associations
CAPSQ - Cercle des Artistes Peintres & Sculpteurs du Québec
FCA - Federation of Canadian Artists
PPSCC - The Pastel Painters Society of Cape Cod
SCA - Society of Canadian Artists
Represented by
Michel-Ange Gallery, 430 Bonsecours Street, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H2Y 3C4
www.michel-ange.net
Inglewood Fine Arts, 1223B 9 Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta, Canada T2G 0S9
www.inglewoodfinearts.com/nancy-galianos
Sheldon Fine Art, 59 America's Cup Ave, Newport, RI 02840
www.sheldonfineart.com