To what extent can beauty be convincing in contemporary figurative painting? After a century filled with so many examples of distorted and fragmented depictions of the human figure, any encounter with a classic, balanced sense of beauty seems almost suspicious, particularly if transmitted through a technique that is reminiscent of old-master paintings. Such is the case with Thessaloniki-based painter Lia Kazakou, whose paintings ask, What context does beauty need to make us feel it is true?

Details such as the shadows produced by a fold in a jacket or the ornamental abundance of a flower pattern