An Artist's note, included in The Picture Looking Inwards solo exhibition catalogue. The exhibition was held at the a.antonopoulou.art gallery from April 13th to May 24th 2013. (You can view the artworks here).
Projection is a new element in the syntax of visual language. A semi-transparent painted surface is fixed before the subject’s face to represent its mental image. It is an illustration of what, in psychoanalytic theory, is called projection: transferring to others one’s own unacceptable qualities or feelings. In this case, Projection allows the viewer to enter the inner world of the human subject of the artwork. It actually fulfills the artist’s need to penetrate into its “mind” both conscious and unconscious, as well as its memories and desires. It is an innovation, which is meant to broaden the narrative abilities of the work, while deepening the narrative itself by endowing it with greater precision, an identity that the visual arts compared to literature are deficient in. In The Picture Looking Inwards projection is employed, for the first time, in all three of painting, sculpture and photography.
Today as Tomorrow and as Yesterday consists of two monochrome three-dimensional elements and the projection, which is a two-dimensional painting on a concave plexiglass surface. Painting and sculpture contribute to the work in a substantial way, by being functional and not merely ornamental. They coexist while being separate, each having its own raison d’ être, applying to both meaning and form, inextricably linked to the subject matter of the work.
The method is employed to Episodes in Athens 1 to 5 (painting), Today as Tomorrow and as Yesterday (sculpture and painting) and Strike on Holiday (photography).
Hacking is the name given to the act of intervention in the reproduction of another artwork. It resembles collage more than the situationists’ détournement, because it does not necessarily imply the presence of a politically subversive element. The aim of works employing hacking is no different from that of the other works, but by its very nature it is closely related to vandalism, or parody at the very least.
It is used in the paintings Couple and Cab, Hacking of P. A. Cot’s “The Storm’, Improvised Taxi Stand,
Hacking of Van Gogh’s “Café Terrace at Night” and The Garbage Dump, Hacking of Klimt’s “The Beech Forest I”.
Rotation is the rearrangement of the painting in a different orientation. It is a semantic gesture, which refashions the narrative of the figurative artwork by changing its very nature. In the process it broadens its meaning by adding emotional context to the work.
It is employed in Ferry: Turning a Landscape into a Portrait.