I'm participating in a two-person exhibition with Fay Anagnostopoulou at FokiaNou Art Space these days. The exhibition runs till March 2 and is open to the public Thurs, Fri, Sat, 5-8pm. Private viewings can also be arranged on other days. So far we have had amazing press coverage and lots of visitors. Here is a link to an article on artsceneathens.
'Erosion & Renewal' is an exhibition with contrasts and connections. Anagnostopoulou explores Athenian urbanism, while I am inspired by nature and culture, yet we both focus on the way that time, the elements, or even the human hand, intervene on surfaces and environments, evolving them into something new. Anagnostopoulou’s urban walls speak of inner-city life’s intriguing erosions and contrast with my ancient walls, with traces of plant motifs, and with my focus on the natural environment’s regenerative nature. Ηowever, texture and colour play an important role in both our works. Furthermore, we both explore a similar, palimpsestic approach, one which involves adding layers of acrylic paint to the canvas, as well as other mediums and techniques. Α kind of editing process via layering.
In this exhibition I have included abstract works of the last 2-3 years, some of which incorporate my technique of combining painting and printing techniques from etched linocuts I have made myself. There are also some new abstract landscapes. One new series is entitled 'Plantiquity'. These were are my thoughts while I was creating it: Homo sapiens have been walking the earth for around 300,000 years, but plants were on this earth long before human civilization, when dinosaurs roamed. To the backdrop of plants and flowers (and from their sustenance), so many forms of life have developed. Furthermore, human civilization has developed, and has been inspired by the flora of this world. Flower and plant designs have been preserved in fossils – the oldest is a seaweed fossil estimated to be a billion years old, which had flowered during the early Jurassic period.
Flowers and plants have appeared on the earliest of artefacts, and continue to inspire art and design. They have played important roles in civilizations around the world. I have often focused on plants and flowers in my work, experimenting with different techniques and mediums in the process.
In 2022, an artist’s residency entitled “Greetings from Athens”, that I took part in at Domus Art Gallery, allowed me to examine the relationship between ancient Greek culture and ancient Greek flora. This developed into a series of works via which ancient plant designs/motifs inspired me to combine the process of printing with my abstract painting process. I created linocuts inspired by ancient plant designs, with which I printed on the surface of the canvas and combined them with expressive painting techniques.
Over the years, I have explored flower art and design from various cultures, in order to create my own forms, such as the ‘Aphrodite Flowers’ which were exhibited at Thalia Gallery in 2023. I have been inspired by the flower designs found on old crumbling wall frescoes, oriental flower designs on ceramics (e.g. Iznik designs found at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art), Indian flower designs on textiles, the Chinese flower painting tradition, Dutch flower painting (17th & 18th century), the Arts & Crafts Movement (19th century), ancient Greek art, architecture and mythology.
My new abstract landscapes also incorporate some of my printing techniques and flower/plant motifs, combined with a more gestural and painterly approach, where textures are also important. These are landscapes where there is movement and change, and the erosions of time and the elements are evident, because nature is in a constant cycle of erosion and renewal. Ιn these landscapes, seasons and weather conditions are mixed up (something that we are increasingly witnessing).
'Erosion & Renewal'
Two-person exhibition with works by Fay Anagnostopoulou and Stella Sevastopoulos
Duration: 10 February – 2 March, 2024
Opening days and hours: Thursday to Saturday, 17.00 – 20.00
FokiaNou Art Space, Fokianou 24, 7th floor, Pagrati, Athens
Metro: Evangelismos