KALLIOPI LEMOS

In Balance takes a look at recurring themes Lemos has been exploring through her work over the last 20 years. The show considers the individual’s desire to attain an inner balance in an increasingly pressurised world, inviting visitors to contemplate life, its dualities and pressures, and the psychological and physical pain one suffers in the quest for a conscious existence.

The exhibition will feature both new and old works in a variety of different mediums. The lower floor of the gallery includes a set of vibrant seed-like sculptures, arranged on axes as if on a scale. These responsive stainless steel sculptures invite viewers to move the rotation of the axis and play around with the stability of the works, contemplating the tension between male and female, aggressive and passive, action and inaction. Also on show will be a group of air-dried clay figurines wrapped in Japanese paper, illustrating the strained and tormented bodies of those who battle to balance in an ever-demanding and changing world. Their mutated bodies reference Kalliopi’s interest in the narrative of existential journeys, displacement and the politics of forced migration, something she has explored throughout her career.

The video, At the Centre of the World, 2015, which Lemos was awarded the Borusan Contemporary Art Collection Prize for, will be situated in the back room of the lower gallery, drawing a claustrophobic picture of our constant effort for inner freedom. The video depicts a woman trapped inside a cage-like iron sphere, unsuccessfully attempting to break free while she is found ‘at the centre of the world’. Finally she accepts she has to discover freedom and balance within the constricted structure. Visitors will be able to view the sphere featured in the work in the upper gallery.

A series of eight wax and oil paintings on gesso paper entitled Study of a Head in Wax, 2011, will be on display in the upper gallery as well as another series of wall sculptures with photographs made in 2012, highlighting anguish for a life that is both difficult and intimidating.

Kalliopi Lemos (b.1951) studied painting and printing at Byam Shaw School of Art, a part of Central Saint Martins, where she also pursued post-graduate studies. She studied the art of Ikebana for 15 years. Over the last decade, her paintings, sculpture, and installations have explored the narrative of existential journeys, displacement and the politics of forced migration. She has also exhibited extensively in international venues and her work can be found in numerous private collections and permanent displays.

Some of her most recent and forthcoming projects include: At the Centre of the World, Nitra Gallery, Thessaloniki, 2015; Moving Image Istanbul, Istanbul, 2015; Nitra Gallery presents Kalliopi Lemos at Art Athina, Athens, 2015; I Am I Between Worlds and Between Shadows, Istanbul, 2013-2015; Pledges, site-specific installation, Byzantine & Christian Museum, Athens, 2014; Culturelines Sans Frontieres, TAF Foundation, Athens, 2016; Pledges, Nantes, 2016; 5th Canakkale Biennial, Canakkale, 2016.