Nikolas Louka’s BEYOND THE BLUR art photography exhibition was launched by HE the High Commissioner of Cyprus in the UK, Mr. Andreas S. Kakouris, on Thursday 3 March, 2022, at the Cyprus House in London.
Curated by Dr Marios Psaras, BEYOND THE BLUR is a retrospective of highlights from the Cypriot photographer’s long career in art and commercial photography.
Nikolas Louka (b. Cyprus 1984) is a London based photographer. Nikolas studied photography in Athens, Greece, where he lived and worked before moving to London in 2011. His uncomplicated, raw and dynamic style delivers timeless and arresting photos across a broad spectrum of photography that include fashion, commercial, theatre and portraiture. He has collaborated with the Greek National Theatre, the Greek National Opera, Vogue Greece, Marie Claire, Madame Figaro and has created portraits for major Greek and Cypriot stars. Nikolas is the founder and head of E2studios in east London, producing work for major brands, including British Vogue, ID, Prada, Sony Music, and ITV.
BEYOND THE BLUR repurposes a broad spectrum of photographs from the artist’s archive. The diverse audience of artists, students, cultural professionals, and general public, who were presented at the launch, were invited to revisit the art and medium of photographythrough Nikolas’s visually compelling photographs and understand it’s artifice. The diverse scale of styles, colour palettes, and compositions, encouraged the visitors to look beyond the “blur” of the medium’s artifice facilitated through lens manipulation, heavy makeup, smiles, veils, masks; to look beyond the stillness or movement of the body, and – most importantly for our contemporary Instagram-saturated visual culture – beyond the intense editing of digital technology that has blurred the boundaries between reality and fantasy.
Duration of exhibition: 3 – 23 March | Mon-Fri 10:00-16:00 (book a visit via info@culturalchc.co.uk)
Organized by: Cyprus High Commission – Cultural Section
Sponsored by: Cyprus Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth – Cultural Services
