Gay Love in Pictures
Kostis Fokas, Konstantinos Ladianos, Vassilis Noulas & Kostas Tzimoulis (VASKOS),
Angelos Papadimitriou, Ilias Papailiakis, Dimitris Papaioannou
curated by Kostas Tzimoulis & Vassilis Noulas
EIGHT
Politechniou 8, Athens
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The exhibition explores homoerotic sensitivity as it is reflected in the present time, through the work of six artists living and working in Athens .Through the use of traditional techniques and mediums of representation (painting, photography, sculpture) but also hybrid or conceptual practices, an "other" subject matter is approached, a powerful eroticism that claims visibility but also its "normalization", its representations.
The reception of a work of art in the context of homosexual desire poses a twofold challenge: moving away from the abstraction for the sake of a "statement" (representational or conceptual) of desire and, at the same time, moving away from the "death of the author" theories for the sake of a biographical "statement". We are dealing here with a return to the specific, to the historically and biographically determined. The simple - often
judged obsolete - questions about a work of art "What does it depict?" "Whom does it depict?" "Who created it?" "What was their intention?" acquire a key character here and charge the projects automatically and naturally with a claiming power.
judged obsolete - questions about a work of art "What does it depict?" "Whom does it depict?" "Who created it?" "What was their intention?" acquire a key character here and charge the projects automatically and naturally with a claiming power.
The joyful and profane painting of Konstantinos Ladianos, the double self-referential portraits of VASKOS (Noulas-Tzimoulis), the intertextual and playful works of Angelos Papadimitriou, the dark oil paintings and the drawings of Ilias Papailiakis, the familiar recordings of the personal time of Dimitris Papaioannou, and the naked intertwined bodies of Kostis Fokas compose a representative sample of modern iconography of gay love.
The exhibition "Gay Love in Pictures" is like saying: Things are simple, things are right in front of our eyes and they are beautiful! Look at them!
* VASKOS is an artistic duo by Vassilis Noulas and Kostas Tzimoulis, started in Athens in 2014. It deals with hybridity exploring playfully
the notion of artistic, sexual and national identity. The exhibition "Gay Love in Pictures" is an extension of VASKOS' search in the field of
the Athenian visual queer scene.
* The poster of the exhibition is inspired by the work of Faith Ringgold.
With the support of NEON Organization for Culture and Development