In 1962 Katsoulidis went to Paris on a government grant. This heralded a new period, characterized by the artist' s interest in non-representational art.

The next works are a series of abstract wood engravings, which date to 1964-1966. These black-and-white wood engravings were made using 4-5 different kinds of wood, which enabled the artist to render a wide range of textures.

Many of these works have been bought by the National Library of France (Cabinet des estampes).These last wood-engravings were exhibited in 1966 at the Astor Gallery in Athens.



Hommage to Giorgos,
1964 woodcut

 


Hommage to Giorgos,
1964 woodcut

 


Motion and light,
1965 lithograph


Imaginary landscape,
1966 lithograph
 

Revolving easel,
accelerating motor

The well-known man of letters and art critic, G.P. Savvides, wrote o these works in the Tachydromos magazine on 15-11-1966:
"The difficulty felt by the craftsman (and I speak of the great craftsman) is not in demonstrating imagination and passion, but in reining these two feelings, with time and effort, to the service of Art. Whether this is old art or new it does not matter; it suffices that it is an Art that is evocative of the Great Mother".
" For Panayotis Katsoulidis, I dared to paraphrase -albeit slightly- the words which Solomos on Byron; not only because I believe that the poet’s words contain the sturdiest foundations of modern Greek aesthetics, but also because I know of no other artist of our generation who is a more worthy exemplar of these words…"

 

The paintings that belong to the next period were made using a revolving easel. (The frame is placed on the cross of the easel which is attached to a motor.
When the pigment is poured onto the canvas which is revolving, the centrifugal force makes it fan out and the rays vary in thickness according to the speed of the motor. Naturally, the composition is prepared beforehand.



Circle at low speed,
1968 Mixed technique on canvas150x150cm.

 


Circle at speed,
1970 Mixed technique on canvas150x150cm.

 


Circle,
1967 Mixed technique on canvas150x150cm.


Solar core,
1970 Mixed technique on canvas 150x150cm.

The scholarly Oxford magazine, Leonardo, asked the artist to write an article on this original technique, explaining how it is used (4/10/1969).
It is worth noting that from the early 70s, the prestigious French dictionary of artists, Benezit, has included an article on Katsoulidis.Katsoulidis held two large personal exhibitions with this type of work in Paris in 1967 and 1969 at the Susanne de Coninck Gallery with very good reviews. He also took part in the 5th and 6th Biennale de Paris in the French section as part of the Ecole de Paris.


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