At the ripe old age of 95, he continues to create with the passion of a pioneer, proposing a work inspired by modern technology. The work is also the largest portable painting (14m high X 17m wide) ever made in our country, consisting of 90 individual autonomous paintings. The Tobacco Factory, an emblematic industrial building of the interwar period, currently houses services and cultural activities of the Hellenic Parliament, and has emerged in recent years as an important place for contemporary dialogue between art, history and society.
In these spaces, Tsoclis brings a deeply existential and philosophical work. He himself notes: “This work was created to express admiration and anguish. And I wanted it to be a parallel Universe. Not in imitation of the existing one, but inspired by the already existing one. Admiration in the face of the infinite possibilities of Nature and fear of possible mistakes, of wrong associations and orders of man. It is also a testimony of acceptance of the need for a new reality — a new ignorance, therefore a new effort to learn. These indefinite and imperfect forms that you see are for me a new reading of the Universe, which is in search of its new form at any given time.”
The emblematic work of the leading Greek artist Costas Tsoclis was welcomed with particular pride and emotion by the President of the Hellenic Parliament, Mr. Nikitas Kaklamanis, in the building of the former Public Tobacco Factory.
In his greeting, the President of the Parliament described the work as “one of the most imposing creations” of the great artist, emphasizing that through its title “it betrays on the one hand the feeling it evokes and on the other hand the multidimensional, creative continuum of the visual arts that extends to our days. “Awe 2025″ is a huge, by Greek standards, portable visual universe of 222 square meters, consisting of 90 self-contained frames in nine rows, which literally causes awe as it surprises the viewer and at the same time invites him to reflect on the relationship between Art and Technology, essence and the future,” he continued.
In his speech, the President of the Parliament praised the long and uninterrupted creative career of C. Tsoclis, pointing out that “70 years in Art and 95 years in life refute any stereotype that could classify him among the “tired” recognized artists.” “He himself,” as he said, “remains a curious, hyperactive child who never stops asking and questioning – sometimes the established and sometimes himself. This is precisely the filter of of his completely personal, artistic youth”. N. Kaklamanis underlined that the work unfolds a mosaic of life, passion and constant creative search in front of which everyone can embrace their own questions and this is precisely what makes it so important”.
In closing, he expressed his warm thanks to the artist “for his past, present and future”, the collaborators of the “Tsoclis Museum” in Tinos, as well as the people of the Tobacco Factory who, as he characteristically said, “contribute daily to the creation of small and large miracles in the spiritual space of the Parliament”. Costas Tsoclis stressed that “art exists everywhere around us: in the glasses, the clothes and shoes we wear, in our combed hair, but also in the walls and windows that surround us, in everything that has been created or designed by man”. And he explained that the role of art is to “steals” from nature in order to highlight man, emphasizing that “without art man cannot exist, while without nature, perhaps he could.”
The exhibition is curated by Chrysanthi Koutsouraki, Director of the Kostas Tsoclis Museum.
Exhibition duration until January 11, 2026
Opening hours: daily 10:00 – 18:00
The exhibition is under the auspices of the Hellenic Parliament and the Costas Tsoclis Museum
Cover photo Olympia Krasagaki
