4 // COASTWEEKEND.COM
Visual arts, literature,
theater, music & more
‘Big Red’ and the
art of Christos
Koutsouras
By DWIGHT CASWELL
FOR COAST WEEKEND
C
hristos Koutsouras is passion-
ate about art — a passion that
is on display at an exhibit of
his recent work at Imogen Gallery.
The show opens during this
month’s Second Saturday Art Walk
in Astoria. It is Imogen’s fifth anni-
versary, and according to owner Teri
Sund, “Christos has been a huge part
of the gallery since the beginning.”
Koutsouras doesn’t fit into any
school of art. His paintings seem
drawn from some realm of the
subconscious, yet closely observed
and subtly painted. They are, as arts
activist Jeremy Efroymson put it,
“suspended in spaces that alternate
between chaos and calm.”
Born on the Greek island of Sa-
mos, the long voyage of Koutsouras’
life brought him to the Pacific North-
west, where he moored himself to
Astoria’s waterfront seven years ago.
Always interested in art, he grew
up in a period of Greek history
when a military junta controlled the
country, when art was less important
than just getting by. When he was
old enough, he joined the Merchant
Marine.
Eight years later he jumped ship
and made his way to Berlin, where
he enrolled in art school. It was the
beginning of a successful interna-
tional career. Recognized for his
discerning use of color, Koutsouras
was one of 105 artists from all over
the world chosen to create art for the
East Side Gallery, an international
memorial for freedom consisting
of a nearly mile-long section of the
Berlin Wall.
Koutsouras left for New York and
had multiple exhibitions at the Indi-
anapolis Museum of Contemporary
Art. From there, he made his way to
Seattle and finally to Astoria.
Continued on Page 15
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Koutsouras in front of a painting of the Uppertown net shed, aka “Big Red”
SUBMITTED PHOTO
Christos Koutsouras in his studio