Work samples

  • Bain de Soleil
    Bain de Soleil

    Acrylic on canvas, 24x24in, 2017.

  • Patterson Observatory
    Patterson Observatory
    Patterson Observatory, Acrylic on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
  • Mr. Trash Wheel
    Mr. Trash Wheel
    Mr. Trash Wheel. Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
  • Surrender
    Surrender

    Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024 

About Minas

Minás Konsolas was born in Greece and has lived in Baltimore since 1976, where he graduated from the Maryland Institute, College of Art. He is the former owner of Minás Gallery, an outlet for poetry, both visual and verbal. The gallery, one of Baltimore's alternative art spaces, was a gathering spot for artists, writers and performers for twenty-two years. He subsequently sold his business and now works full-time from his studio in Charles Village.

Konsolas has participated in… more

Harmony of Opposites

Artist Statement 

Heraclitus' theory about the harmony of opposites proposes that opposing forces are interconnected and interdependent. Their tension and conflict lead to a balanced and harmonious whole. Thinking vs feeling, rational vs irrational, hot vs cold, wet vs dry, chaos vs order. With a diverse range of influences, I examine the two-way relationship between us and nature. Nature is us and we are nature. I challenge the traditional notion of representation. I use colors, shapes, lines, and forms to evoke emotions. This allows viewers to interpret every painting in their own way. 

 

  • Into the Future
    Into the Future

     

    Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024

  • Surrender
    Surrender

    Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024 

  • La Casa Del Mar
    La Casa Del Mar

    Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024 

  • Peace Puzzle
    Peace Puzzle

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023 

  • A Tree is a Tree
    A Tree is a Tree

    Acrylic on canvas, 28x22in, 2024 

  • Sound of Light
    Sound of Light

    Acrylic on canvas, 30x30in, 2023 

  • Oncoming Night
    Oncoming Night

    Acrylic on canvas, 30x40in, 2023 

  • Eye Kissing Light
    Eye Kissing Light

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023 

  • Slant of Light
    Slant of Light

    Acrylic on canvas, 30x40in, 2023

  • Fading Skyline
    Fading Skyline

    Acrylic on canvas, 30x40in, 2023

Nature of Light

Light by itself is not visible. It is the energy of particles and frequencies. We only see the objects that receive it.

My paintings are an act of thought, where I co-exist with landscape and light. These works are not an exact representation but a subjective personal reality, reduced to its essence.  They are the encounter of horizontal and vertical lines plus the interaction of color, light and form.

My ultimate objective is the creation of emotion and beauty visible to you, the viewer, as I understand them.

Enjoy!

  • Sentinel_2023_AcrylicOnCanvas_36x36in_(Small)_4.jpg
    Sentinel_2023_AcrylicOnCanvas_36x36in_(Small)_4.jpg

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023.

  • Snowball Effect
    Snowball Effect

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.

  • Bales
    Bales

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.

  • Among the Trees
    Among the Trees

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.

  • Nothing Gold can Stay
    Nothing Gold can Stay

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.

  • No Crash, No Splash
    No Crash, No Splash

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2023.

  • Ebb & Flow
    Ebb & Flow

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.

  • Menace in the Sky
    Menace in the Sky

    Acrylic on canvas, 36x36in, 2022.

A Place Under the Moon

In his series, A Place Under the Moon, Minas Konsolas recalls locations he has visited, during his life and travels, from a perspective of poetic sentiment and love. Each image – a combination of paper collage and pastels on canvas – shows a vibrant outdoor setting where nature predominates, and solitude and quiet are implied through the calm and harmony of the visuals. Though it is a world inhabited by humans, their presence is only implied by structures or paths they have left behind. In one image, Great Blue Heron, humanity has no foothold at all.
 
Each image is almost a motion picture: flowing, dynamic lines suggest gentle wind or movement of water while reds, oranges and earth tones evoke warmth and vibrancy. While the subject matter and placid tone of these images unite the series in terms of content, their flowing and dynamic visual style speaks to a larger world – playful, evocative, inviting, and spanning the globe.
 
Finally, each picture is a mosaic of smaller pieces, like fragments of a mirror, implying multiple ways the viewer might interpret the larger image. Form and content are thus intertwined, giving each scene both a physical and a stylistic presence, speaking at once to the particular and the universal. A Place Under the Moon presents us with vivid, magical landscapes which are both real and imagined…their ultimate meaning left mostly up to us.
 
---Richard Brett , Associate Professor of Cinema and Communication, McDaniel College.

  • Lavender Moon
    Lavender Moon
    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
  • Evening Prayer
    Evening Prayer

    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.

  • Great Blue Heron
    Great Blue Heron
    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
  • Demeter'sBarn
    Demeter'sBarn
    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
  • Lily Land
    Lily Land
    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
  • Prosefchi (Prayer)
    Prosefchi (Prayer)
    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
  • Transcending by the River
    Transcending by the River
    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.
  • Bluebird
    Bluebird
    Paper collage & oil pastel on canvas, 30x30in, 2020.

CubiCity

Architecture is an integral part of our culture. It has been called the mother of all arts. It touches the soul. It is a tangible manifestation of human imagination. It is a major influence on a city’s image and its people, in both positive and negative ways.

By working with collage on canvas, I am trying to  create a warm, patchwork effect, reminiscent of a comfortable quilt. These pieces are my way of embracing the city that I love so much.

This is my attempt to express a heartfelt connection to Baltimore, my adopted hometown. Please join me in celebrating the beauty of Baltimore’s architecture.
  • Patterson Observatory
    Patterson Observatory
    Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
  • Roundhouse
    Roundhouse
    Collage on Canvas, 30x24in, 2019.
  • Mr. Trash Wheel
    Mr. Trash Wheel
    Mr. Trash Wheel. Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
  • Bromo Tower
    Bromo Tower
    Collage on canvas, 30x24in, 2019.
  • Rawlings Conservatory
    Rawlings Conservatory
    Rawlings Conservatory. Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019.
  • The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse
    The Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse
    Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019
  • Washington Monument
    Washington Monument
    Collage on canvas, 36x24in, 2019.
  • Sherwood Gardens
    Sherwood Gardens
    Collage on canvas, 24x24in, 2019
  • Bay Bridge
    Bay Bridge
    Bay Bridge. Collage on canvas, 24x24in. 2019
  • Domino Sugars
    Domino Sugars
    Collage on canvas, 24x24, 2019.

Aurora

Vision is a tool for artists. Its normal and abnormal characteristics may influence what an artist can do. My high- risk glaucoma and dry eyes diagnosis has a lot to do with what you see in this series .

Pointillism, or divisionism is a style which involves the separation of colors into individual dots.  A thousand points of light made by a spectrum of diverse shades, hues and intensities. Once on the canvas, the viewer is invited to optically mix them into one image. Chromoluminarism is a term used in mosaics.

This body of work will be exhibited at the Hamilton Gallery in March- April 2018 in conjunction with Baltimore's  Light City Festival.
  • Bain de Soleil
    Bain de Soleil
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017.
  • Visible Radiation
    Visible Radiation
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
  • BayKing
    BayKing
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
  • Cycladic Lovers
    Cycladic Lovers
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
  • Meditation
    Meditation
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
  • Meditation on Chlorophyll
    Meditation on Chlorophyll
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017.
  • Topiary Moon
    Topiary Moon
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017.
  • Sanctuary
    Sanctuary
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
  • Peruse
    Peruse
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017
  • Shortcut
    Shortcut
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2017

Sequence

Repetition, rhythm and pattern are part of every action of labor, every form of expression and many parts of nature. There is no golden ratio in this body of work, unless you see one. What appear to be more obvious are the playful color motifs in a sequential mathematical order. My intent is to create a field of energy that engages the viewer in more than one way. Roll with it!
  • Parade
    Parade
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016
  • Applause
    Applause
    Mixed Media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016.
  • OptimumContrast
    OptimumContrast
    Mixed Media on canvas, 24" x 24", 2016.
  • Particles
    Particles
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016.
  • GrapeStomping
    GrapeStomping
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 48" 2016.
  • Conference
    Conference
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 48", 2016.
  • Woodstock
    Woodstock
    Mixed media on canvas, 48" x 36", 2016
  • TimesSquare
    TimesSquare
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 36", 2016.
  • Bamboo_36x36_2017.jpg
    Bamboo_36x36_2017.jpg
    MIxed media on canvas, 36" x 36", 2017
  • Passenger Window_24x18_2016.jpg
    Passenger Window_24x18_2016.jpg
    Mixed media on canvas, 24" x 18", 2016

Frame of Mind

                  
Immersed in the mystery of all that exists. Unable to read the bird’s eyes, I wonder ‘til the brightness of the sun blinds me. As if light and darkness were not opposites, but they exist as one.

I am interested in the idea that we all see things differently because we filter things through our own frame of mind. Your opinion matters.

As an experiment, I asked six literary friends to write one sentence about each painting. The writers were: David Beaudouin, Betsy Boyd, Tracy Dimond, Amanda Fiore, Nancy Murray, and Alan Reese.

The results added an intriguing layer of perspective and interaction. Will what they see change what you see?
  • Frame of Mind 13
    Frame of Mind 13
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 40", 2015 ________ David: That surrounds us for this moment, not unlike life ________ Betsy: Don’t ever be afraid to walk straight ahead, into yesterday. ________ Tracy: wear a white dress in the rain / a canvas for color of the sky ________ Amanda: First, tear your hair out, then laugh, then lay in the grass, in love with the sky. ________ Nancy: When I am ready I will walk through the gate, leaving a swirling clutter of clues behind me. When you are ready, come find me. ________ Alan: Through the golden doorway, escape to the colorless world where hearts beat silently and a stone bridge beckons.
  • Green Against the Sky
    Green Against the Sky
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 24", 2015 ________ David: Like that first day with you:r funny blue hat and green bumbershoot ________ Betsy: Not her face—it was her playful cap and her patience when you asked for directions that made you know. ________ Tracy: after long conversations / the face becomes / the face of another ________ Amanda: Come! You are me, and we are one. Yes? ________ Nancy: Behind every city window is a face, without reflection, waiting to be seen. ________ Alan: While the world burns, a sky blue woman, faceless with shame, displays the last green swatch of earth.
  • Frame of Mind 11
    Frame of Mind 11
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 36" x 24", 2015 ________ David: Where I find you, waving hi on a bicycle of all things ________ Betsy: “Flame your hair,” he called to her, so she stood up and pedaled, then stilled her body on the bike. ________ Tracy: trouble breathing in / side with your lonely gravity ________ Amanda: So many days, all wild with light, and changing. ________ Nancy: There is a great and delightful difference between industry and growth. _________ Alan: The wind purifies our present. We outrace the smoke of the past.
  • Frame of Mind 10
    Frame of Mind 10
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 40", 2015 ________ David: Because everywhere you are, a vase of blue hydrangeas, sunlit water ________ Betsy: A ladder of sunlight on the waves is not something you have to work to climb ________ Tracy: a bird cries over the ocean: solidarity / the sun covers all of us ________ Amanda: Some other evening, more incredible than the one you left me on, will come singing. ________ Nancy: Whether the sun rises or sets is irrelevant to the nature of tranquility. ________ Amanda: And in this place may we find everlasting peace.
  • Frame of Mind 8
    Frame of Mind 8
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 24" x 18", 2015 ________ David: Where any odd thing with feathers makes perfect sense ________ Betsy: “The people here build intricate nests outside the birds’ houses,” she told him. ________ Tracy: where is your social turn signal / standing above the water ________ Amanda: Autumn, and the crack of dry leaves. ________ Nancy: Art and nature will not be contained. ________ Alan: The electric snow goose is mute for the moment.
  • Frame of Mind 6
    Frame of Mind 6
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 30", 2015 ________ David: Not blue at all in this green place, day folding ________ Betsy: At twilight a soft pencil line and small glass of wine are all you really need. Tracy: comment from the sky: the leaves belong to no one ________ Amanda: What I found about the wind sharpening, and the last moments of light. ________ NM: Step away from your contemplation and watch nature swoop down and perch in your place. ________ Alan: Lost in this moment, I am inside my outside and outside my inside.
  • Frame of Mind 5
    Frame of Mind 5
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 30", 2015 ________ David: Where we leave but return to always, like a great painting ________ Betsy: The sailboat returned after Hanna’s death—she was sure she saw it. ________ Tracy: try to address identity / taste the color you wear / dripping from the walls ________ Amanda: There is no beginning or end to speak of that could hope to possess either you, or I. ________ Nancy: If you have no art to hang on the walls, look out the window and find it there. ________ Alan: I am always sailing to reach you, the full moon of my dreams.
  • Frame of Mind 4
    Frame of Mind 4
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 30" x 30", 2015 ________ David: As it makes us, greenly, in its eye _______ Betsy: The light on the porch bronzed on her face—like she’d drunk cups of golden wine. ________ Tracy: in this dream / I drink to everyone I’ll never meet / in collected thoughts before the sky ________ Amanda: There has been you, there has been beauty. ________ Nancy: It is what is cultivated that grows. ________ Alan: Gazing over the fertile fields, I find the world meets me at my window, washing over me with its light.
  • Frame of Mind 1
    Frame of Mind 1
    Acrylic & ink on canvas, 36" x 48" , 2014. ________ David: Into another stroke of memory to flood a wall with light ________ Betsy: Please exit through any available artwork. ________ Tracy: clean up worthwhile scraps / the money from the floor ________ Amanda: Everywhere I look, comes alive. ________ Nancy: Let art spill outside of the frame and follow it wherever it takes you. ________ Alan: Here, memory and experience interleave like synaptic tree branches, urging and yearning.
  • Frame of Mind 3
    Frame of Mind 3
    Acrylic & Ink on canvas, 36" x 48" , 2015 ________ David: Outside of it is another world we make ________ Betsy: When she thought of their friendship, she tended to see them through open windows, a road welcoming their footsteps. ________ Tracy: purple lights the heart pillars / hold a chest tight ________ Amanda: When you turn your back, trust the wind, and sail through this, to that. ________ Nancy: Spaces, minds and hearts must remain open for light and love to come and go as they please. ________ Alan: Arm in arm, we stroll the boulevards of our friendship, painting the world around us.

Unreal Abstracts

             

I am interested in the relationship between the painting and the viewer. The painting doesn’t exist without you, the viewer. Your opinion matters. Because it’s not about what I painted, it’s about what you see.

Einstein said, “Logic takes you from Point A to Point B. Imagination takes you everywhere.”
  • Unreal Abstract 9
    Unreal Abstract 9
    Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 30", 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 21
    Unreal Abstract 21
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24", 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 20
    Unreal Abstract 20
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24" 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 16
    Unreal Abstract 16
    Mixed Media on Canvas, 18" x 24", 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 11
    Unreal Abstract 11
    Mixed Media on Canvas, 30" x 40", 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 10
    Unreal Abstract 10
    Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 40", 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 3
    Unreal Abstract 3
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24", 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 2
    Unreal Abstract 2
    Mixed media on canvas, 36” x 24”, 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 1
    Unreal Abstract 1
    Mixed media on canvas, 36" x 24", 2014
  • Unreal Abstract 7
    Unreal Abstract 7
    Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 30"2014

Dream City

Due to connectivity and the loss of privacy in the electronic age, the city setting no longer offers anonymity.

The mountain village comes full circle in my paintings, where each one of them becomes a unique entity of intimacy and community. The Dream City Village, if you will.

I asked Baltimore writer Jen Michalski to write a meditation about this series. This is what she wrote: 

Minas speaks of being influenced by painters Picasso, Braque, Cezanne, and Derain. When I view his work, I am reminded of the Romantic poets Keats, Whitman, Wordsworth, and Shelley, who I have referenced liberally. We are interconnected and trapped by ourselves, closer than ever and simultaneously farther apart. Nature seeps into Minas’ work like an insanity, breaking through cracks and weaving through windows, breaking down all that we have built, like it always does, beckoning us back to its paradise of the mind and soul.
  • Dream City Interior 6
    Dream City Interior 6
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x 40", 2013 --- "We unfurl our feet, our tendrils to the sea. The wind whispers what we remember, that the cities were just the pillars, the beacons of our dreams."
  • Dream City Interior 1
    Dream City Interior 1
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 36"x 48", 2013 --- "My blue room of clipped words/birds. In the house, a million window mirrors."
  • Dream City Interior 5
    Dream City Interior 5
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 36"x 24", 2013 --- "If you leave, you will slip away, neatly in the grey world, the rain world, neat as a drink, always a part of its unending motion."
  • Dream City 11
    Dream City 11
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 36"x 48",2013 --- We dream dormant while time feasts. Its leaves climb our walls, returning our brick to crumble, scattering our mortar to dust. Its life after life, our afterlife
  • Dream City Interior 2
    Dream City Interior 2
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x 40", 2013 --- "Inside your forests, the world is so small, so far. An open-ended invitation; my answer before the question".
  • Dream City 1
    Dream City 1
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, , 30"x 30", 2013 --- "Who knows where we sleep? Who knows what we dream? "
  • Dream City Interior 3
    Dream City Interior 3
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x40", 2013 --- "This is not a sleep dream. This is the dream that I open our eyes to. You are the dream to which I open my eyes. You grow inside; the warmth of you keeps me awake; the pulse of you keeps me alive."
  • Dream City 5
    Dream City 5
    Inks and Acrylics on canvas, 30"x 30", 2013 --- "Little engines, we hum, blinking eye windows. We stoke our room fires. We gnash our building teeth. We dream awake. Awake, we dream."
  • Dream City 6
    Dream City 6
    Dream City 6, 2013. Mixed media on canvas, 30"x 30".
  • Dream City 7
    Dream City 7
    Dream City 7, 2013. Mixed media on canvas, 30" x 30".

Distant Relatives

             

I needed a change after painting on canvas for the last four years. In this case, the mask was my tool for impersonating a sculptor and re-working all the cardboard boxes that came through my business.
  • Bacchus
    Bacchus
    Mixed media on cardboard, 18" x 11", 2009
  • Peggy
    Peggy
    Mixed media on cardboard, 20" x 12", 2009
  • Ralph
    Ralph
    Mixed media on cardboard, 19" x 13", 2009
  • Barbara
    Barbara
    Mixed media on cardboard, 16" x 12", 2013
  • Mickey
    Mickey
    Mixed media on cardboard, 18" x 9", 2009
  • Cretan
    Cretan
    Mixed media on cardboard, 19" x 10", 2009
  • Felicia
    Felicia
    Mixed media on cardboard, 19" x 11", 2009
  • Joe B.
    Joe B.
    Mixed media on cardboard, 27" x 19", 2009
  • Acrobat
    Acrobat
    oil on canvas 48 x 36 inches 2005
  • Nef
    Nef
    Mixed media on cardboard, 21" x 14", 2009