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GREECE AND WRITING CODES

Constantin
Xenakis
GREECE AND WRITING CODES
June 27 - October 4, 2020
Poros

The multifaceted visual idiom of Constantin Xenakis is inspired by signs and symbols that span the spectrum from the ancient worlds of Egypt and Greece to contemporary reality: urban structures, computer systems, the chaotic internet. He charts and codifies, combines elements from past and present, documents and denounces the impasses of communication, the lack of understanding, the contemporary world's failure to connect.

His works unify time and space, since questions like these have always engendered a universal preoccupation. They unfold along an axis of repetition / juxtaposition / layering, a codified image of contemporary culture. In this way the artwork becomes a means of ideological critique to the current sociopolitical system.

The emblematic work in the series at the Museum is a map of Greece, a chart of the sea—"la mer grecque". As always in the mapping works of Xenakis, the objective documentation is chaotically mingled with symbols-references that are personal or cultural in a broader sense. The charted Aegean Sea is presented as a "mosaic of shipwrecks"; a Greek sea that acts as both an intercultural cradle and a hub of Greek tragedy. It must be remembered that the Aegean is the predominant marine point of reference throughout Greek history, political and cultural alike, and hence a timeless element of Greek and Greek-born identity.

Artworks

Aegean: Identities + Journeys

Aegean:
Identities + Journeys
Group Exhibition
June 25, 2016 - September 17, 2016
Poros

Yiannis Adamakos
Michalis Katzourakis
Demosthenis Kokkinidis
Alekos Kyrarinis
Tassos Mantzavinos
Emmanouil Bitsakis
Constantin Xenakis
Sotiris Sorogas
Jannis Psychopedis

The social and historical reality of today is raising questions and creating acute concerns which we do not fully comprehend or do not comprehend at all. The times we are living through as individuals and as citizens force us to examine issues beyond our experience, and frequently our awareness. In this country, the need for answers, for an analysis, is palpable and increasingly urgent. The transcendent intervention of Art is of the greatest importance.

As an agent in cultural management, Citronne Gallery aims to function as a forum for the exchange of artistic ideas and views. With this in mind, this year we chose a theme, always current, recently enlarged and magnified. The Aegean, our sea, has a long history of life and movement, peace and wars, survival and voyage, work and experience. The exhibition “Aegean: Identities + Journeys” brings together artistic viewpoints on this subject, expressed by nine contemporary artists called upon to provide commentary: Yiannis Adamakos, Michalis Katzourakis, Demosthenis Kokkinidis, Alekos Kyrarinis, Tasos Mantzavinos, Emmanouil Bitsakis, Constantin Xenakis, Sotiris Sorogas, and Jannis Psychopedis.

The artistic works exhibited are accompanied by poems, or extracts of texts, chosen by the artists as an additional representation of reality. At the same time, the poems are independent of the artistic work: that is, they are not the inspiration for the art, but the artists’ stream of conscious commentary on their varied memories and responses to the Aegean. The artistic and the poetic function as a diptych which highlights the crucial significance of the Aegean to the history and the definition of the Greek identity.

Artworks

NO WAY OUT – Visual Records: Maps and Codes

Constantin
Xenakis
NO WAY OUT - Visual Records: Maps and Codes
August 2, 2014 - September 15, 2014
Poros

Constantin Xenakis is a nonconforming artist, intensely engaged in questioning and exploring the role of art and the artist’s responsibility towards the social whole. His work arises out of the contemporary socio-political reality he has experienced firsthand. Xenakis is a citizen of the world: he was born in Cairo and has lived in Athens and Paris. As such, he has a Greek identity and a triple cultural background: Greek, Egyptian and French.

This composite personality allows him artistically to approach the Greek situation from inside and outside. He has developed an abstract, yet at the same time, deeply meaningful visual idiom. He maps things out by constructing and deconstructing schemes, words, and concepts. He has invented a personal representational and visual alphabet. His figurative language makes varied allusions across time. He begins with ancient Greek and Egyptian civilization and progresses to contemporary everyday elements, such as international driving signs. He deconstructs all these references by transmuting them, recomposing them and creating new codes and images which reflect current reality- historical, social, and political.

Among the dead ends (NO WAY OUT) are paintings, collages, maps, and books-as-objects. These works are organised along an axis of Repetition / Juxtaposition / Superposition As such, they offer a codified image of contemporary civilization: “The symbols-codes interlock and meet in a chaotic manner and, by dialoguing with form and colour and concepts, attempt to coexist in the painting’s framework.” The work of art becomes, in the end, a means for ideological criticism of the existing socio- political system.

Artworks