Alexandros Maganiotis creatively expresses his artistic pursuits through materials and technics of architectural design. He develops large-scale wall compositions, applying colored, acrylic markers onto semitransparent architectural film, and articulates the figures, the fonts, the phrases, the numerous and diverse objects with contours of dots and delicate gestures. In a rather genuine and personal style, his works reflect experimental practices of emblematic artists in European history of art who radically used to incorporate into the canvas’ surface words or entire texts achieving the visual potential of such symbiosis. Capitalism as Religion borrows the title of a text of Walter Benjamin which analyzes the main features of the capitalist system as a religious and ritual practice. One of the features, we detect it as a phrase in the drawing, describes capitalism as an unstoppable, relentless work-worship celebration. The unexpected combination of different views of New York city and the social stratification that is reflected in three horizontal planes which run the drawing surface outline the temperament of a metropolis, a symbol of contemporary capitalist culture. This is the city that “never sleeps” since both work and consumption are imposed to such an exhaustive and non-stop level that joy and satisfaction turn into forced slavery.
