statement

As an artist, I am deeply interested in the qualities of human nature. Although my artistic route so far is betaken by a constant experimentation in means of materials and practices, I always seemed to be haunted by some constant obsessions, such as the notion of the surface that carries in it a suggestive meaning; a meaning that cannot be seen outside its precarious nature. This surface, material or allegorical, always bears the immanence of a double meaning: it can be seen as both a barrier and a surface of inter-connectivity. In this context, surface is never meant to remain intact; it squirms, wraps and finally transforms through a revitalizing violence that opens the way to new perspectives.

Surfacing Abysses dealt with the nature of desire, and more specifically, with those elements of violence born inside an excessive manifestation of beauty, where the repulsive was meant as part of the enchanting. This work often questioned the barriers between life and death of the subject, using as a metaphorical vehicle those uncanny cutaneous signs and qualities. Violence was depicted as an uncanny feeling lurking under the smooth, sweet "skin" of the image, created by painstakingly laying and removing the painting material on fine paper. This is done so that the final result will emphasize the nature of the drawing surface, since all drawing gestures are to be erased, leaving nothing but a graced, painted surface that seems almost photographic.

The surface of the work thus becomes the bearer of implied meanings concerning the outward. But this is nothing but a hint to the long-lasting debate of surface versus depth that always followed Western thought; with their unclear imagery and subject, these images are intended to produce meaning by concealing it, in a realm where the beautified hides the essence of daunting or appalling. But then, nothing is meant to be so worrying. Nothing is meant to last for more than a short temporality. Human is never eternal, always beautifully imperfect in its endless deviation.

bio

born: 1986, Trikala, Greece

education

Athens School of Fine Arts, MFA, 2012
Athens School of Fine Arts, 5-year BFA, 2010

selected awards/honors

Erasmus scholarship for 5-month attendance at Facultade de Bellas Artes - Universidade de Lisboa, Greek State Scholarships Foundation, 2007

selected group shows

The (in)transparency of sex, The Symptom Projects, Amphissa, Greece, 2013
Es-optron 1, The Symptom Projects, Amphissa, Greece, 2013
Kodra Fresh, Action Field Kodra, Thessaloniki, Greece, 2011
Woven, The Art Foundation, Athens, Greece, 2011