“Megalith 4 is the fourth in a semi annual publication of works by NYC-based artist Panayiotis Terzis that acts as a PH sample of his broader painting, collage, and print studio practice. This most recent issue is divided in half: the book begins with a series of torn paper collage experiments printed in alternating duotones. Flashes of vivid color contrast with the heavy blacks that permeate the work. Moments of calm — a gender-ambiguous cyborg lost in contemplation on a post-nuclear Greek shore — are contrasted with imagery suggesting violence and menace — an attacking falcon, a stampeding quadruped robot, forest fires, an angry, disfigured classical statue.
“Following these primordial ruptures is a series of reproductions of gouache paintings by the artist, reproduced either faithfully or in a completely altered color scheme. Each page features a robotic face, gazing at us with ambiguity. The forms are undeniably face-like but definitely post- or pre-human; we cannot be sure what they represent, or what they see when they gaze back at us. Are they future gods preparing to inherit our world after its inevitable collapse? Or are they a monstrous reflection of what we are becoming, gazing at us with contempt or indifference?
“Megalith 4 continues the artist’s obsession with the fate of humanity, the price of our hubris, and the illusion of history. He seems to suggest that the only way forward is into the maelstrom.” — MEGA PRESS, with edits