My mind | 2016 | paper, pencil, charcoal, insects | 70 x 50  x 30 cm | exhibition “Fresh”, gallery Zina Athanasiadou, Thessaloniki~

The artwork “My mind” is a three dimensional self-portrait I produced in an intention to create a new and more innovative representation of myself. By re-shaping the sense of self, self-portraiture not only helped me to accept myself, but also to connect with others, cause what you see there is what other people see and we don’t usually recognize that. My work deals with anxiety as a core concept, and the process of self-portraiture has been a therapeutic escape. Looking in the mirror, I saw the well-hidden sides of myself that soon made me realize that I had been living in denial. By delving into my fears, I learned that I have the strength to overcome them. Since your face is the one you know the best, is the best platform to study the human face and the human psyche in depth while helping clarify and deepen both creative vision and the relationship with yourself. Self-portraiture provides a safe place to play and experiment with new techniques, where you can unlock the imagination and escape. As a result, seeing myself as an art object, not only changed my point of view as an artist, but my attitude towards my life.

MY MIND

Gaia | 2019 | installation | charcoal, paper Fabriano 250 gr | 800 x 250 x 150 cm | Art Display Windows of the OTE building, Hellenic Telecommunications Organization, Thessaloniki ~ 

According to Greek Mythology, Gaia, from ancient Greek “Γαία”, is the initial deity of Earth and personification of life.
Using exclusively paper and charcoal, I created the image of a giant woman sleeping. A mythological and modern figure, she sleeps in the city center between concrete buildings but no one bothers her. Consisted of drawing patterns inspired by the forms we see in nature and arranged into a conceptually layered paper installation, she creates artificial roots that entwines them in everything around her, to become part of it, to become part of us. She closes her eyes to open ours.

The Art Historian Miguel Fernandez Belmonte, writes about the artwork :
“In the dream , in the thought. In the fog it is difficult to distinguish the ground and our next steps.
Everything is white, but faint lines and shapes emerge.
They lie in the void, rise up and form a giant form. That breaks down into smaller pieces.
On the floor, on tables, hanging from the walls, the pieces multiply, become even smaller and the total surfaces expand. They become roots, leaves, waves, branches, a whole forest where continuous divisions follow their own natural rhythm. Like cells, after their proliferation, they suddenly become conscious and become part of a larger organism, the pieces are united and the figure gradually regrouped.
In the city, far from strange eyes, the figure grows, but retains its original fragility and delicacy.
She closes her eyes to open ours.
The morning is no longer in the atelier. The thought, the dream passed. Only the footprint left.
As a reminder that it was true, she left a few objects in the hands of her creator: a small brush, a charcoal and a piece of eraser.”

GAIA

The art series "Symbiosis" is a visionary approach of the values and the cultural experiences I have gained during my stay in Indonesia through the Art Program "Darmasiswa". I was intended to present the artworks of the art series  as part of my solo exhibition, on April of 2020 at the Artspace Survive! Garage in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. But due to the current situation of the Corona virus and for precautionary reasons, the exhibition was postponed for the summer-autumn of 2020.

Symbiosis, from the Greek word "συμβιόω" (συν + βίος that means “living together”), is any type of a close and long-term biological interaction between two different organisms. Τhese types of interaction can be mutualistic, commensalistic or parasitic. The art series Symbiosis represents these connections and explores the similarities in human relationships, where the body and mind struggle to co-exist between the invisible lines of time and space. Everything can change and flow with the passage of time, and to figure out how to exist inside the same spatial environment. Space and Time must become one, like the mind within the body, like two living organisms, or in this case like a couple of people with different personalities and needs. Only then we can confirm the meaning of coexistence.
Arthur Schopenhauer wrote about: “The representation of coexistence is impossible in Time alone; it depends, for its completion, upon the representation of Space; because, in mere Time, all things follow one another, and in mere Space all things are side by side; it is accordingly only by the combination of Time and Space that the representation of coexistence arises.”
The implementation of the idea is carried out with an architectural and contemporary artistic approach, inspired by the Indonesian architecture and culture that I had the chance to meet and observe during my stay in Indonesia which led me to realize the importance of these values as part of people’s life and the manner of existing together in peace, since ancient years.


The project  Includes the artworks: a. Mutualism, b. Commensalism and c. Parasitism.

a. Mutualism | 2020 | drawing, collage | pencil on paper | 100 x 50 cm 
The first artwork of the series, “Mutualism” describes the long-term relationship between two partners where both individuals benefit. In evolutionary biology, mutualism is a behaviour whereby an organism acts in a way that temporarily reduces its fitness while increasing another organism’s fitness, with the expectation that the other organism will act in a similar way at a later time. Using elements of natural landscapes, modern and ancient architecture and abstract fgures, I describe the positive interaction between the two partners that based in mutual trust and faith of each other.

b. Comensalism  | 2020 | drawing, collage | pencil on paper | 100 x 50 cm
The second artwork of the series, “Commensalism” describes a relationship between two living organisms where only one benefits and the other is not signifcantly harmed or helped. The relation is often between a feeble host and
a mighty visitor where usually one of them using the other for transportation or for housing or it may also use something another created, after its death. Much importance in artwork’s content, is the drawing houses, parts of abandoned houses I found in the hills of Merapi volcano and the villages in the South of Yogyakarta city; no one lives there anymore, but a lot of urban legends have passed through the years to the habitants of the area, keeping alive the memories of the places. These various stories are illustrated in the artwork as a mighty host, who takes advantage of the fertile ground and growing his roots in the empty house and surround it.

c. Parasitism | 2020 | drawing, collage | pencil on paper | 100 x 50 cm 
The third artwork of the series, “Parasitism” it’s about a close and persistent long-term biological interaction between a parasite and its host. Where the parasite lives on or in the other organism, the host, causing it some harm, while get adapted structurally to this way of life. Parasites are typically much smaller than their hosts, they do not kill them, but benefit while the host is harmed. A parasitic organism that exists in Indonesia and relates to the artwork is a type of wasp, the “social wasp”. Among wasps, this species is the best known, if for no other reason than that they live in colonies which can comprise up to several hundred members. This species, although are “primitively” social, they build delicate, single-comb nests and often live in or on their hosts for an extended period. In the artwork, a “single traveller” rests within the host’s body, building its nest to the detriment of its stay, while the host slowly adjust its habits to the circumstances.

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Theano Giannezi