Lillian Lykiardopoulou
Loop Ahead
17 May – 28 June 2008
Opening:
Saturday, 17 May 2008,
19:00 – 23:00
Essay by Sotirios Bahtsetzis
http://www.qbox.gr
Qbox gallery is pleased to announce the first solo exhibition of Lillian Lykardopoulou in Athens, entitled Loop ahead which will consist of installations and drawings.
After graduating with honors in 2004 from the Athens School of Fine Arts the artist received a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation and pursued an MFA in painting/printmaking at the Yale School of Art. In 2007 she participated in group exhibitions in Shanghai and in the Gwangiu Museum of Art in S. Korea while in 2005 she represented Greece in the Biennale of Young Artists in Naples, Italy. She has also been a research scholar of the Stavros S. Niarchos foundation.
Lilian Lykiardopoulou derives her subject matter from objects and images that are well known or familiar and widely used. Her work involves both drawing and sculpture while the broad range of materials employed depends on the demands of each specific piece. Order and power relationships, as portrayed in the world of sports, are two issues addressed in a recent work titled Loop ahead. Subjects such as normalcy, hierarchy and the power of imposition are treated with caustic humor while hegemonic images and preconceptions are turned upside down.
In her installation Assymetric Endeavor a gazelle is standing on top of a lion-skin rug. In the background there is a photograph of the gazelle with the lion-skin wrapped around its neck standing in an athletics stadium. In the words of the artist, they constitute a “double inverse”. In a playful remix of the myth of Hercules, the weak has taken over and become the strong, showing off the trophy, and becoming a myth itself. Both animals are made from synthetic materials and their natural dimensions create an uncanny presence that surprises
the viewer.
A solo running track adjusted to the size of the gallery space: an all-weather track made solely for indoor use alludes to the struggle to overcome self in an atomized society while running in circles. A swerving bowling lane; at the end of the corridor there is a mirror behind five glass pins stuffed with feathers. When the bowling ball hits, the strike will be disastrous for the piece, the mirrors and the pins smashed and the feathers freed. Its attraction lies in its immanent destruction, in the playful desire of the viewer to set the heavy bowling ball
in motion.
Through the merging of images and sculptures, the artist succeeds in derailing their established meanings or their proper use. Lillian Lykiardopoulou’s work is about a constant questioning of “norms” on a visual, cultural, personal or political level; she re-examines what our modern society perceives as normal and abnormal.
Opening Hours: Tuesday-Friday 15:00-21:00, Saturday 12:00-16:00 or by appointment.
For more information please contact the gallery via e-mail (info@qbox.gr) or phone 30 211 1199 991.
Qbox Gallery
10, Armodiou st., Athens 105-52
T/ 30 211 1199 991
info@qbox.gr
http://www.qbox.gr
