Professor Maniatis exhibits self-portrait showcase
April 2, 2019
A lecturer at the UNM School of Architecture and Planning (SA&P) is now the subject of a fine arts exhibition.
More than four dozen self-portraits by Efthimios Maniatis, SA&P lecturer, are on exhibit through the end of April in the UNM Fine Arts and Design Library.
“The series is an attempt to explore what it is to be a painter, and an illustration of feelings, desires and experiences through self-portraiture,” Maniatis said. “I gave myself a year to complete it in 1993The central theme is that of Ulises travels – every experience becomes another island and another island until Ulises returns home, without his crew, sailing alone on a boat with one single oar.
Maniatis began teaching at UNM SA&P 15 years ago. He primarily teaches introduction to architecture courses both in the classroom and online. Before moving to New Mexico, he completed undergraduate and graduate work at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn. He spent 20 years doing architecture in New York and lived and worked on Santa Fe for 14 years before moving to Albuquerque. During that time, he worked on projects at 10,000 Waves Spa, Bishop’s Lodge and La Posada de Santa Fe. He still maintains his own architecture business in addition to teaching.
“The Fine Arts and Design Library is one of the most important spaces in my life,” he said. “In addition to the beautiful space, I find so many wonderful things to read and study and all the people who work here have been so kind and supportive. It really inspires me.”
Library staff member Jonathan Hartshorn is the exhibit curator, and says he was immediately intrigued with Efthimios's description of the work before he even saw it.
“He described the process of making it as an extreme exploration and awareness of self,” Hartshorn said. “Done in 1993 and shown as a group for the first time in 2019, the 52 works in the show act to inform the viewer of Efthimios's past self while including the viewer into the evocation of oneself into the present and potentially in the future.”
The exhibition can be viewed during regular library hours.
