Vasilis
karouk / Sex With The Machine
April 5 - May 23
April 5 - May 23
Dio Horia
Panahra Sq., Chora, Mykonos, Greece
Dio Horia gallery inaugurates its fourth
year of activities with a solo exhibition by Greek artist Vasilis Karouk,
called Sex with the Machine.
Sex
with the Machine introduces Karouk’s interest on the scattered brain
syndrome that we suffer from as a society, due to the extensive use of the
Internet and social media.
The title of the exhibition acts as an
ironic catchphrase that on the one hand, characterizes our obsession with
presenting a false and narcissistic self via social media and on the other
hand, exposes our almost sexual relationship with our media devices.
With wry wit, Karouk creates paintings
that stand as selfies (self-portraits), usually of naked people taken, with a
smartphone. Technically his paintings are abstract embedded with hints of
figuration. Karouk uses bright colors in his works in order to trigger the
sensory perception of his viewers and to arouse their superego that
incorporates the values and morals of society.
In addition to his paintings, Karouk
also presents a wallpaper and a sculpture. Specifically, the paintings are
installed on a wallpaper that depicts an image of a cave-painting of
pre-historic origin that the artist found in the internet and then, processed.
Karouk states that painted drawings on caves are a big impact on his recent
work and that often symbols of humans, animals and finger flutings are depicted
in his works. Using the same color palette with the wallpaper, the artist
creates a sculpture made from marble. The sculpture stands as a two-player
strategy game on a board, of Karouk’s own invention. The exhibition viewers can
play with it following an instruction manual that accompanies it.
Vasilis Patmios Karouk (b. 1977 , Athens, Greece)
lives and works in Athens. He graduated from the University of Fine Arts in
Athens and the University of the Arts in Utrecht. His last solo exhibition took
place in 2017 at an old shopping center in Athens. Among other exhibitions he
has participated at the following: Paratoxic Paradoxes, Benaki Museum (Athens,
2017) | Nterti Humanism, Fagionato Gallery (London, 2011) | Others, Riso Museo
d’Arte Contemporanea della Sicilia (Palermo, 2010) | Heaven, 2nd Αthens
Biennial (Athens, 2009) | Destroy Athens, 1st Αthens Biennial (Athens,
2007).