Christos Koutsouras’ upcoming show at Big Car is deeply rooted in place, as is most of the painter’s work. The body entitled Land Art is centered around a large scale fire that tore apart his birthplace on the island of Samos, Greece. He first approached the theme in 1994 after a fire destroyed much of the vegetation on the island and again in 2016 when a rampant blaze that took large swaths of land. Only a year later the Syrian refugee crisis was brought to the doorstep of this small Greek isle in a visceral way. The island, like Koutsouras, showcases the vicissitudes of life.

Land Art work was produced by wrapping paper around the burned trees of Samos and taking charcoal imprints. When Samos was subjected to a mass fire two years ago, Koutsouras saw it as an opportunity to finish the work he started. He saw the white trees of his work juxtaposed with the black landscape as a visual reference to the act of fire.

“My objective was, from the beginning, to talk into the people’s consciousness, and show the force of the action, more than just create an image,” he says. “As you see, it was a work in progress over several years, starting with a spontaneous reaction back on time.”

Koutsouras, who studied painting in Germany, often pulls from the instruction of one of his teachers and tries to make each painting into its own narrative. Each one, according to him must have a beginning, middle and end. The result in this show, is a story about what humanity is leaving in it’s wake on this planet.

“Experiencing the destructive, but aesthetically beautiful force of fire, it is a traumatic experience… that can change ones way of thinking and our dealing with environment and how much respect we have towards the place we call home,” says Koutsouras. “Our earth.”