CHRISTOS BOULAXIS
......was born 1968 in the village of Engares, Naxos. He grew up working with the family business of farming and selling fruits and vegetables. As an artist he is 100% completely self taught with his talents including woodworking, stone carving, mosaics, welding, building walls and structures with stone, architectural design, renovation, refurbishing salvaged materials. The list goes on!
Interview By Alekos E. Florakis
Arriving in the square of Engares we find the humble workshop of Christos Boulaxis. Standing at the entrance is an imaginative construction, a sign reading NAΞOS MARBLE (with beach stones inlayed in marble) balanced with a large clay vessel of flowers. A little farther down there is a large marble work, with the letters outwardly carved, a bold inscription says “ATELEIR”, and at the top an ancient Greek inspired boat. The place is filled with blocks of marble, stones, marble columns, finished works, and works in progress. There are marble benches with a small table, and a sink, together with a round mirror and marble frame.
The picture is unusual today in Naxos, referring to the years long past. Then, the island not only quarried the marble, as today, but also worked in perhaps outdoor or semi-outdoor workshops. Then in Naxos, from the 17th century until the early 20th century it was one of the centers in the Cyclades for marble artistry next to Paros and Tinos.
With that introduction brings us to the workshop of Christos Boulaxis, of course oriented in modern times. Boulaxis was born in the village of Engares in 1968. His parents are Georgos Boulaxis of Engares and Katarina Periali of the neighboring village Galini. Christos finished only primary school in the village and came into farming as most of the locals have done. But the passion of the heart and the ability of the hand does not leave him alone. He began creating decorated works with wood for about 4 years, then later turning to deal with stone and marble. He didn’t go anywhere to learn. “By myself I learned” he said, completely self-taught. “When I was in Athens, I bought a chisel and a hammer and some sandpaper. Now I work with power tools and by hand.”
His materials are from Naxos marble, natural stone, and beach stones where he gathers in and around Amiti beach. The shapes of nature conjure the imagination and bring to life ideas. “Each work is something that has come from my being. I see a stone and find what fits, because not all of the stones can do something, it has to be something you think of and what it looks like. The stones speak. This is not something that I have studied, but I recognize. I become one with the stone in the hour that is relevant. This is what matters. All that I do, I know what I want and I do it. I know it the moment I pick up the stone.”
Works belonging to the above category are the “Egg” (oval stone on top a column), “The birth of beings” (polished stone with blades), “Broken Heart” (grey marble with a natural fissure), and the “Idol” (a reference to the Cycladic works of the 3rd millennium in this region). Also an impressive large elaborate “Seashell” made from a reddish brown beach stone.
Other works of Boulaxis in marble relief form such as “The dolphins of the world” and “Chalice” or “Escape from the cycle” and the “Cucifix”. The last work is marble combined with wood. For the cross he has used olive wood and the back surface is an old bread board.
There are other utilitarian objects made from marble in the workshop and for commissions. “A wonderful table, with carved waves and large marble column. The column is 60 cm tall and on top 10-12 cm thick marble, and I have carved meandering waves of Santorini all the way around. The thick corrugated column is two and a half tons together with the top”. Οther decorative useful works include, sinks, washbasins, mirrors, lighting, bowls, platters, vessels, etc.
Interestingly the mosaics of Boulaxis are copies of Minoan and Therian pieces. (“The Minoan”, “Lily”, and “Ancient Ship”) wonderfully putting together beach pebbles with ceramic tiles. Several of these, together with relief works that are inspired by ancient Greece have been sold in the United States where he lived for 2 years with his former spouse. He tells us “Some of my best work, when I worked before 10 years on mosaics, I have taken to the states. I have done a relief of Odysseus with marble 15 cm thick, 2.5 meters long by 1.5 meters tall. The galley, with rags and Ulysses tied to the mast, with the rowers, and everything, and with flower reliefs all along the top.”
One of his works in mosaic “Achilles of Troy” says the following: “Beach stones, whatever I find in Amiti. I cut 4 times to make a square to make the mosaic. This here, ten thousand pieces different colors, one by one hand cut, of natural color. I affix on the marble. Three meters of work! Troy in the background at the top , down front two black horses, black stone, Achilles clothes in red stones as it catches the wind on his chariot, his body in yellow stones, the belt, chest mail in white stones.
Christos is a likeable man with sensitivity and dreams, which, without much technical knowledge and instruments, struggling to stay in the village and create with passion and love. “Until I die” he says, “I will do this. I wake up and think about stone, I have a lot in my mind.”
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