"Man is an Island"
Through a series of drawings and constructions I invent an imaginary place and fortify it.
The first work of the unit is a polyester construction titled “The place of mind” 2010. It is a barren, rocky island with a shelter (bunker) at the top, which is surrounded by the relics of a oversized jaw. A human jaw that is deconstructed and introduced as a new articulated figure. Within it I build a closed, defensive place and with it I set the limits for a space of the mind where the only outlet for thought is the projection of a text. This text is a monologue which is co-articulated and develops in parallel with other works.
I build a fortified island with reference to war architecture, while in parallel the whole functions also as a metaphor of human thought and consequently of the human body, of the human universe. Morphologically, this place deals with concepts such as the defensive – offensive, building – remains, winner – loser, enduring and ephemeral.
The artist, self monitors the outer world through a gunner slot, isolated and forted by everyone. The only redemption is communication, the escape of thought – the articulated Logos – through the projection of the text on the space. The appearance of Logos, in the shape of sentences, functions as a narrative horizon, on which the place floats. Through this unit of works, I attempt to map the current state of the artist in times of crisis – does today’s society need art and if yes which aspects of art? – as well as the tragic fate of loneliness. I trace the tendency of the human nature to fortify itself behind certainties, which instead of functioning as redemptive shelters often become fatal traps.
I create the Island as a metaphor for the isolation, the loneliness of the artist, of the human being.
The second work of the unit is a drawing titled “If and - maybe” 2010. It depicts one of the side facades – sections of the fortified island as well as the basements of the bunker. In each of these underground spaces, the dimensions that would be found in a regular architectural design are replaced by words – verbs that identify or are being identified spatially by the sizes of the rooms. This vertical section is run down by a digestive pipe, a “soft” tube, which unfolds as an architectural facial development, touching tens of meters where the land, the soil, accepts it as it were a vagina. This is a subterranean, completely internal, corporal in a sense, place – manner of assimilating thought.
The third work of the unit, is a 3D sculpting version of the “If and - maybe”. A sculpture made of stuffed fabric and polyester, titled “Soft ward” 2009. A “blind”, elongated tube, which winds and curls around itself.
The fourth work of the unit is a series of nine drawings made with pencil, titled “180ο” 2010.This series conveys the bunker through a semicircle view, placed in a “natural” environment.
P. Chandris