- The seduction of Miss Europe
is part of the - Zeus Metamorphoses
cycle- .
Throughout nine works, made between 1970 e 1979, Nikias Skapinakis interprets the strategies used by the Greek god for his feminine conquests, taking the form of a bull (like in this work), and other animals, or a cascade of coins.

Large formats, with delineated shapes simulating collage, creating large monochromatic spots, in a composition which, with the finest economy of means, tries to find a balance occupying the whole surface of the canvas. These works follow a formal scheme where each of the four limits of the paintings is touched by an element of the composition. Admittedly, there is a double influence in this language: on one hand, Pop and the posters of the sixties, from which he retains the image invading the gaze and the clearly defined monochromatic planes; on the other hand, the frescoes in Pompei's Villa of the Mysteries, from which he tries to reinterpret the synthetic spirit and chromatic contention.

In this work, Nikias delineates over an intense and uniform blue background two figures in close-up and clearly defined contours. The large white spot of the bull, the diagonal of which establishes the depth of the space and leads to the naked woman, sitting close to the head of the animal. The chromatic contention potentiates the circulation of the gaze over the established combinations of shades.

Just like Europe was seduced by a disguised Zeus, our gaze is seduced by the Pop effusive spirit of the image. But Nikias painting transforms that captive attention into a transcendent reflection: with his renowned irony, he gives the title “Miss” to the mythical Europe kidnapped by Zeus to the island of Crete, and he makes her a miss in a beauty contest, as if all cultural phenomena could not resist the appropriations of mass culture and the new mythologies they generate. However, the painting maintains its power to reverse the movement - provoking a reflection about that same visual culture.