disastrous exhibition of 2009 at Guildford Lane Gallery HUMANIST TRANSHUMANIST: what happened to vakras.com? find out here Sued by Robert Cripps Robert Cripps who runs Guildford Lane Gallery in Melbourne is suing myself and Lee-Anne Raymond with whom in 2009 I co-exhibited at his gallery because he claims that our forthright account of our dealing with him during our exhibition at his gallery is defamatory. Cripps effectively destroyed our exhibition, but retained the money we paid for the privilege of having him destroy it. The exhibition, "Humanist Transhumanist", was the worst exhibition experience in my life. Vakras.com vanished from the World Wide Web from 13-17 May 2011 inclusive because Cripps wants this information censored. Worse was to come. We decided to host our sites on our own server. However, Australia's primary telco, Telstra, decided to disconnect our line from the internet, therefore making our sites unavailable to the www, after demands were made by Cripps' legal counsel. Under the cover of disconnection, someone with obvious knowledge of this occurrence took the opportunity this offered to hijack the domains vakras.com & leeanneart.com; MORE on the hijakcing Above, photo of my mobile phone showing the unavailability of vakras.com. On the Android phone it was unavailable until around 11:30 (am) 19 May 2011. However, server problems on the Android phone continued until 21 May 2011 with “Proxy Error” messages Worse was to come in October 2011. Australia's primary telco, Telstra, disconnected our own server from the www, and during the period of this disconnection the domain vakras.com was hijacked.

the review in Vibe magazine: "His bizarre fantasy paintings and works draw the eye deep into the unknown. With such a steady and expert hand behind the brush, the Vakras images will astonish and amaze as the eye looks around...at the life-like resemblances and eclectic fluidity with which the images are executed."Tessie Virgiotis, Vibe magazine. June 1999review of the solo exhibition at Roar Studios in Melbourne, June 1999 Digital images by Demetrios have also been showcased in the October 2001 edition of iTgraphicsmagazine.Right: the page featuring Vakras' digital images sekeletocompressor 2001, and ambiguity generator 2001. links.html the online review by Jane Rocca which appeared on the age city search website on the February - March 2000 exhibition at the CASspace windows. (It was still accessible on-line until late August 2001, but appears to have since been archived)   Demetrios' digital images were also  reproduced in Digital photography design magazine, in the Autumn & Winter editions of 2001.Images reproduced - reaperdactyl, skeletised warmachine, & demolisher suspended -appeared as part of the "winning entries and [top] 100 images from the IDAA exhibition. " This was the inaugural International Digital Art Awards.   Another of Demetrios' digital images appeared in the Portfolio Edition of Digital Publishing Design Graphics, issue #78 January 2002. The webdoctor from INTERNET.AU magazine reviewed this site in a full-page review, issue 81/July 2002, p.94:"...this is without doubt the Best. Web doctor. Ever....the surreal and Fantastic Art of Demetrios Vakras Web site is one of those sites you want to frame and take home with you. This is an exceptional online exhibition of paintings, drawings and surrealistic digital images...It captured my imagination from the get-go and lured me in quickly and seductively. ...The content is unmistakably magnificent, the technical construction of the site is also worthy of an award. ...the design and architecture are all excellent. ...Full of near-disturbing artistic content - very surrealistic in style and form - it's also a delight for the senses and captures the visitor's attention quickly and with a sharp intake of breath. I'm not ashamed to admit it I could give ten stars out of five, I would."   The joint exhibition "Amalgam" with Lee-Anne Raymond was reviewed by Jane Canaway of the Moonee Valley Community News.The article appeared on page 9 on the 23/4/2002. (...shortly after this show I had a long overdue hair-cut.)   An article written by Demetrios critiquing the popularity of Patricia Piccinini was published in the inaugural issue of EastWest Arts.  The article, "Patricia Piccinini: a dissenting voice", appeared on pp. 92-94. The article was not merely published, but was paid for (!) by the magazine. "Demetrios wrote to critic, Peter Hill [of the SMH], to protest about a highly uncritical review of Patricia Piccinini. He was called a 'looney' for his trouble. Here he defends his unfashionable position", John McDonald, editor.  EastWest Arts: Australia, Asia & Beyond Inaugural issue, September-November 2004 issn 14499266 www.eastwestpublishers.com.au (Sadly EastWest Arts has since folded. The original pre-edited version of the article can be seen here.)    An article on Demetrios' digital images was published in ProPhoto magazine. ProPhoto :The Magazine For Imaging Professionals April 2005, Volume 61. No. 4 issn 1322395x Profile by Barrie Smith. pp. 42-44 "The traditional art market has experienced some ups and downs in recent years, but there is a growing interest in buying photographic art. Demetrios Vakras is a digital artist, who grounds his work in basic, solid photography." Barrie Smith Two of Demetrios' paintings were included in the book Carnivora, The Dark Art of Automobiles, by Les Barany (best known as Giger's agent). Les Barany Books "Carnivora": The book by Les Barany is available on Amazon. Gerhard Habarta has recently published his book Lexikon der phantastischen Künstler. It is available on Amazon.de It features over 1100 artists of symbolism, fantastic art and surrealism! Included in their number is a small entry on my work (left). Though some fantasy art (kitsch), of the like produced by Frazetta, Vellejo and Brom, is included, the vast majority of works reproduced are of a very high quality! Though the image quality of the works reproduced in the book is not as good as it might have been it is well worth buying!