Michaeledes also used scissors to ‘paint’ a series of small-scale minimalist geometric pieces. The works were realized with the use of paper alone— which in most cases is used as a base for the final work—and the method of abstraction. In these constructions—whether flat, in relief or three-dimensional—the light plays with the voids and volumes, adding an illusion of movement, an illusion heightened by the artist’s use of chromolux, which enabled him to create reflections that further enrich the work. Michaeledes viewed the constructive manual labour of making the cutouts as a fundamental principle of his mature work. One can view these small-scale constructions as studies on the behaviour of light, a subject that concerned the artist throughout his career and especially in his monumental anaglyph constructions.
Michael Michaeledes was born in Nicosia in 1923. He studied architecture and fine arts in Italy and the United Kingdom. His talent was recognized from early on when he was a student at the Pancyprian Gymansium, where he was taught by the artist Adamantios Diamantis. His early work reveals his teacher’s influence.