Belching my heart out, lunging forward with arms pleading for an answer from the gods, I sing along to an animated caricature of the mythological hero, Hercules. His real name was/is Heracles, but who's keeping score;). Circa 2002, I loved this animated film so much I had two different VHS tapes of this Shakespearean tragedy, molded and edited by big Walt to help young children appreciate the classic yet oftentimes grotesque Greek myths. With a stunning wardrobe of my sister's dresses, amplifying my demigod image, I’d stare into the bulking Panasonic television set, believing that I, the recently-potty trained curly haired boy, could slaughter the HYDRA with the help of my trusty Steed, a 14 year old Dalmatian.
These moments were the seeds which sprouted inside of me, growing this enormous beanstalk filled with love of Greek heroes, gods and mortals alike. After coming across the work of Billelis, a thought-provoking and immensely talented artist who composes many works from his ideological interests and personal background, which happens to be Greek, I knew I had to do a deep dive on him. At first looks, his photorealistic renderings seem macabre and intensely nightmarish, but once you start using your eyes as a window, rather than a mirror, you understand that his immaculate representations are here to have us investigate and explore beautiful life concepts pertaining to the human condition.
As a 3D artist whose Rolodex is loaded with Blue-Chip Clients, he recently entered the NFT space, already carrying all the tools necessary in his Hephaestic belt. His Collections aren’t just amazing for their artwork, but for the entire narrative supporting them. The website for his collection IN MEMORIAM, has Billelis beautifully intertwining his ideas behind the artworks with an audio/visual and cursor-activated interactive experience. It’s just magnificent!
Billelis does not just roam in the realm of Greco-Roman allegory. His artworks travel throughout all types of religion and spirituality, from Egyptian Polytheism, to Catholicism, to Demonism. The topics of his works cover vast amounts of something I'll label: philosophically tied historical narratives. In some works, like Your Majesty, he covers the historically perpetual dichotomy between the two types of mortals, the “normal ones'' and the ones who are believed to be a Deity, something beyond these planes, higher up. They had King Ramesses, Caesar Augustus, Gilgamesh, Xerxes. As we run through the timeline, fascination and obsession with gods turned into that of Royalty, and then later Celebrities, ultimately collecting titles such as a “Superstar”, earning a seat on the newly renovated stainless steel thrown, that sits atop Olympus. Same thing, different name: Marylin, Elvis, Michael Jackson. The artist doesn’t look down upon this human trait of sky gazing towards those who can save, heal, and inspire us, but he asks the viewer to navigate a way through this question, manifesting the diving board for them to jump off. He ultimately implies that all of us, including the deities, are all the same. “Fallible, human, and equal”, and most significantly, decomposable.
His works ABSOLUTION and TRANSCENDENCE portray Biblical tropes which are just ideologic juggernauts. Said Juggernauts include “Overcoming the limit of physical existence” and deciding to accept the sins and wrongdoings we have committed, and seek absolution and forgiveness. However Billelis challenges the long-lasting notion that this redemption must come from an otherworld and omnipotent power, and that “we must search within our soul to correct and heal the wrongs we have done”.
Lastly, I needed to give a shout out to his work, Medusa’s Forgiveness. After walking in on Medusa playing adult games under the sheets with Poseidon, the Vengeful Athena transformed the Breathtakingly Beautiful mortal into a real sore-sight to look at, with a coiling of serpents taking the place of her recently blow dried hair. This piece however, does not depict the persecuted as a monster, but as a soul who has been in eternal pain, grieving so thickly for the green life she could have sowed that was cruelly ripped from her, succumbing to the fate of a Gods gripping will and subsequent lack of mercy. Billelis' portrayal makes you feel her agony, as if she was a friend, or even a lover.
I’ll leave you with a quote which seems to be a favorite of the Artists:
FROM MY ROTTING BODY, FLOWERS SHALL GROW
AND I AM IN THEM AND THAT IS ETERNITY.
EDVARD MUNCH
Stay Curious!
Article by: Nate Galper
An In-Depth Look at Artist, Billelis, and his Approach Toward Questioning our Human Condition