A coffee date with Pavlos Samios in downtown Kolonaki

There are some painters who have the gift of being able to address many different themes over the course of their careers. Able to balance perfectly between the figure and space, Pavlos Samios is one such artist. When focusing on the human figure, he somehow imbues it with a sense of the space that surrounds it, while his interiors have the vibrancy of an inhabited space even when devoid of a human presence.

His education has likely contributed to this ease: He apprenticed as an icon painter at a young age, and later, under the tutelage of Nikos Nikolaou and Yiannis Moralis, learned to delve into the history of art and draw inspiration from the great masters.

The Skoufa Gallery in the downtown Athens district of Kolonaki recently unveiled Samios' latest solo show. Titled "Café Paradise," it is essentially a fresh take on a subject that the painter and Athens School of...