astrolavos | art galleries

Demetra Panourgia , in this new individual exhibition, with the distinctive title: ' Walk through hidden realms' studies spirit and soul during a journey towards self-knowledge and our Inner Being.

The artist transforms her earlier experience on the realm of sculpture and installation, in three large - almost monumental- installations within the gallery space.

These three large installations, inside which the visitor can wonder, are:

1) Trees (forest-trees), 2) Labyrinth (labyrinth-rose) and 3) Fireflies .

This journey from self-relativity and introversion towards the reflection and the outside space, on which one is called to operate in, is realized through a series of routes - spaces -paths, in which the visitor is asked to enter and wonder around. He/she is called to walk around it and therefore, from viewer-absent, to become partner-contributor in action and 'read' the work.

The reference point in all three installations is the idea of the Road ; an idea which by ancient philosophy is being connected with the notion of thought, speech and cogitation which returns symbolically - at times as a retched path, a dark route or other times (like multiple openings to parallel worlds creating illusions through reflections). The mystery of the labyrinth has always been a constant field of study and of contemplation as far as the human condition is concerned. In D. Panourgias work, the labyrinth - the central installation - with the rose in the middle and the mirrors as structural materials instead of concrete, a rather dramatic and terrifying depiction of the matriarchal consciousness, symbolize the world; the entity, the unreadable, the movement. A constant line that is drawn towards eternity, an endless duration of immortality, the line-chord towards Heaven. The line, on which all things are supported and from which all things are hanging from.

By being the road towards the hidden centre, the labyrinth is connected with the quest for the Lost Word.

Demetra Panourgia in her work presents her views upon theories of space, movement, optical illusions as well as visual transformations and alterations of the same object. Materials, like a mirror, the light, the darkness, colored motives (trees), allow the visitor to experience a visual game of infinite transformation, giving the impression of a constant and perpetual motion and possibility to reshape figure and space. This way, her art embodies the notion of change, as it happens with nature, where nothing is totally destroyed yet simply altered. By the body of her work, she also proves that not only she is able of understanding such ideas but also re-shaping them with an interesting technical and artistic way.

In the same period, in the level of the gallery, Giorgos Papageorgiou presents his latest work.

The artist, who for the past two years has been living and working in China , exhibits his works inspired by different experiences, situations, feelings that have resulted from his everyday contact with the people and the traditional neighborhoods of this place. The works are separated in 3 different units: ' Hutongs in China ' , 'A few years ago in China ' and ' Papers' .

In the first unit, the artist attributes through a combination of geometrical abstraction and expressionism, his personal sense of Beijing 's' traditional alleys. The artist quotes: 'Climbing the small hill, which they call Coal Mountain , behind the Forbidden City, one can see Beijing with a totally different view. It is a big antithesis with those images that one sees passing through the city from the airport until the hotel. Small alleys can be seen amongst houses and fences...very few trees. Houses with low roof tops, everything close to the ground. Some ugly buildings of the 60's, 3 or 4 stories high are projected close, bringing back memories. The low houses next to the Forbidden City overshadow all the tall and modern buildings which can be seen on the background. Peculiar.

In the West, most of us, believe China looks a bit different. Here, one just needs to climb a tiny hill and look. I really like this view. I enjoy the contrast. In the other two units of works, the abstract expressionism and the artists personal style, who is usually combining different image-levels, external or internal and one within the other, seems to be narrating simple or more complex - mysterious human stories. Combined with the collage technique, which in this occasion is used to embody inside the old - faded photos from books and photographs bought in flea markets, present faces of clear and vivid almost dramatic expressiveness.

China , such a different place. Its geopolitical, architectural infrastructure; different faces of simple people haunting cities and provinces mainly through materials like ink, rice paper, old photos. It feels like a magical atmosphere is dominating the artists work.

Duration of exhibition: until Saturday 12th of April 2008

Sponsor of exhibition: Johnnie Walker Green Label