Costas Spathis’ Aerial Beach (2023, Photography) captures the vibrancy of seaside leisure through an overhead lens that transforms a crowded shoreline into a mesmerizing tapestry of color and form. From above, umbrellas in every shade—blues, pinks, greens, yellows, stripes, and solids—dot the sandy expanse like confetti, their circular patterns creating a visual rhythm across the canvas of beach.

The human figures beneath, scattered in repose or activity, become secondary marks within the composition, almost abstract when viewed from this height. The subtle gradient from the golden sand to the turquoise surf at the bottom of the frame adds depth and contrast, anchoring the field of playful geometry in a natural landscape.

In Aerial Beach, Spathis transforms what might appear as chaos on the ground into an ordered yet spontaneous artwork, balancing repetition and variation. The umbrellas echo the artist’s fascination with minimalism and pattern, while the bright, saturated palette evokes joy, warmth, and the collective rituals of summer. It is both a document of place and a painterly reimagining of leisure, where the everyday becomes strikingly ornamental.