Sotiris Moldovanos is a Johannesburg-born painter whose work sits at the intersection of portraiture, abstraction, and the visual overload of the digital age.
After completing a B.Tech degree in Fine Arts at Pretoria Technikon (now Tshwane University of Technology) in 1999, he developed a distinct visual language that has become his signature: figurative works that are carefully constructed, then deliberately broken down into bold colour fields, geometric patterns, and simplified silhouettes. The figures remain grounded in anatomy but are pushed toward abstraction until they feel as if they are constantly shifting between recognition and illusion.
What makes the work so engaging is the tension it creates. At first glance, it feels structured and graphic. Spend more time with it, and it starts to fragment, almost like a visual echo of how we process images online. You think you recognise what you are seeing, then it slips into something else entirely.
His most recent body of work, Sartorial, leans fully into contemporary digital culture. The series explores men’s fashion as seen through social media, drawing from influencer feeds, curated aesthetics, and sponsored posts. These digital fragments are reworked into painted compositions that blur the line between authenticity and performance. The result feels familiar, but slightly destabilised, echoing the experience of endlessly scrolling through carefully constructed online identities.
Across his career, including solo exhibitions such as On the level (2024), Sartorial (2021), and Nowhere (2015), as well as extensive group shows and art fair presentations, Sotiris Moldovanos has built a consistent and evolving presence in the South African contemporary art scene.
His work can currently be viewed at WORLDART in Cape Town.