Oh!

Oh! From the Adventure of Poetry to the Poetry of Adventure by G. I. Babasakis & P. Koutsikou An original, groundbreaking book, "Oh!" by Giorgos-Ikaros Babasakis and Paris Koutsikos, successfully and charmingly attempts a combination of word and image, written poetry and photographic wandering. The two artists composed "Oh!" working together for almost two years. Excerpts or individual words of Babasaki's poem were enlarged and placed, like posters, in the most diverse parts of Athens, they stayed there, were read and commented on by passers-by, not knowing what they were, sometimes surprised and sometimes admiring the unexpected presence of a dynamic verse on walls, pillars, ruins, vaults, abandoned cars, deserted yards. Afterwards, Koutsikos photographed these usually worn "posters". For the first time in the annals of poetry and the artistic-visual book, such a collaboration is noted. It surpasses street art in that it was not done in a random, spontaneous way and by "anonymous" street artists, but organized, methodically by two artists, a poet and a photographer-visual artist & graphic designer, who boldly sign their work. Other originals of "Oh!" is that here the photograph does not illustrate the content of the poetry, it is not a decoration or a supplement to it but an autonomous commentary, a visual statement that Love can even in the ruins, garbage dumps, and deserts of the city flourish. Still, the very poetic text of "Oh!" departs from the usual love poems in that it does not grumble, it does not constitute a illegitimate complaint, it does not lament the absence of the Beloved, it does not complain, even lyrically, that the Beloved is not given to the Beloved, but on the contrary, drawing on the fascinating tradition of western and noir, glorifies Love, sings the Triumph of Love, praises the Glamor of Carnal Intermingling. In "Oh!" the lovers are not rivals, the civil war has been banished, He and She are accomplices, sympathizers, co-defendants, conspirators. They are Allies. "Oh!", beyond any artistic (poetic & visual-photographic) value, constitutes an intense and honest proposal to redefine love ethics, another look at the love universe, another way of expressing and manifesting the explosive and incendiary emotion of Love. It is sadly known that Love in our times is quickly reduced to a dull arrangement, quickly fragmented into a series of meaningless "tasks" and relegated to "chore". In "Oh!" Eros, maintaining a crucial distance from both Platonism and pornography, shines in its spiritual, mental, and carnal dimension. Events are planned for "Oh!", with presentations, recitations, exhibitions of visual and photographic material, lots and lots of good music, plenty of drink, lively discussions.