The constant barrage of images from the internet and magazines, showing lovely interiors and wonderful styling, can sometimes give us a feeling of déjà vu in a creative world that often seems to be chasing its tail. Positionings, framings, colour schemes and textures can suddenly start to seem a bit samey… Like a giant moodboard that ends up consuming itself, a trend emerges before our eyes without us really knowing where it came from. But is that so important? Picasso didn’t invent Cubism. Miles Davis didn’t invent Bebop. Yet they were the uncontested masters of these historic cultural movements because of the way they grasped their quintessence despite their very disparate roots.Yet sometimes, by chance, we happen upon the Picasso during one of our daily digital perambulations – upon THE creator whose every piece seems to sum up the very quintessence of a trend. This is how it is when you stumble upon the work of artist Alexis Christodoulou on Instagram…
Delicious pinks, blues and yellows applied to architectural volumes magnificently arranged beneath an unreal light, creating dream-like spaces that one yearns to visit for an illicit weekend, or even just a few hours. But such places don’t appear on any world map. All of Christodoulou’s creations are in fact completely digital – surrealist echoes of the photos we swipe daily without knowing if they are real or not, drenched in ambiguity.Created in 2013 by the young South African, who is based in Cape Town, @teaalexis has become both a reference point and a direct source of inspiration for influencers and international interiors professionals. Beyond their hyper-realism, the success of the 3D images created by this self-taught artist lies mainly in their poetic atmosphere and the super-subtle harmony of colours and materials. ‘I think I create these spaces because I love the idea of being able to project myself into them, to escape into them for a moment. They are just the extension of my daily dreams.’Carrying no particular architectural baggage, having worked as a copywriter for 10 years, Alexis engages in 3D representation as a hobby. Satisfying a childhood fascination for artificial worlds but ‘frustrated by their lack of a modern aesthetic and by their tendency to be rooted in science fiction’,
Alexis very quickly established his own unique aesthetic by ‘reimagining our world with elements borrowed from spaces I’ve seen, photos I’ve collected and ideas I’ve had since childhood, and places where I’d like to walk.’Resembling architectural compositions/models, these spaces are refined interpretations of real-life places, conceived as if reimagined during a dream.The images I’ve created are a simple extension of my desire to bring to life fantastic spaces that echo a more modern and cleaner aesthetic,’ Alexis explains. Drawing from the world of architecture, works tend to begin with a sketch of a space that was generally inspired either by a Cape Town building familiar to Alexis or by a famous modern building or structure. ‘It could be the muted tones of an Aldo Rossi design, concrete meeting the plaster of a David Chipperfield interior, or the grid from a Superstudio design extending to infinity.’With his characteristic straightforwardness, Alexis tells us: ‘Inspiration comes from several sources, but I always try to create a space that interests me through its shape and materials, and in the use of light.’ And the deliberate lack of a human presence in his works only accentuates the unreal feel of them and creates an atmosphere that is serene but sometimes also troubling and ghostly. Alexis explains his conception thus: ‘My scenes are always devoid of human beings. I prefer the viewer to imagine how they would exist in the space. Sometimes I leaving a tiny hint of a previous presence, but I never lead you to a specific narrative.’An architect of escapist fantasies, Christodoulou regularly describes these impressive digital works as a sort of creative challenge that he has set himself. The result is an endlessly inspirational visual treat.
