At
the NOVA sector of Art Basel | Miami Beach (2016), Kalfayan
Galleries present a curated solo exhibition of Kostis
Velonis (b.1968), a thought-provoking research on
sociopolitical theories reflecting the artist's Greek heritage
and his recent experiences in Mexico.
Following
the artist's three-month residency in 2016 at Casa Maauad in
Mexico City Velonis' solo show titled 'Part Company'
explored antithetical approaches to community living and
social participation by two distinct figures of Mexican
Modernism, Greek-Mexican activist Plotino Rhodakanaty
(1828-1892) and Mexican artist of German origin Mathias Goeritz
(1915-1990).
Velonis
work explores a broader context around class identity and the
beauty of the trivial, through an emergency sculpture,
encompassing rather than isolating aesthetics and politics.
Kostis Velonis' solo presentation at NOVA consists mainly of new
works, specifically created for the Art Basel Miami Beach: works
on canvas from the "Trade Union Conflicts" series are
juxtaposed to sculptures from the "Puppetry for Long
Distance People" series and sculptures/ paintings from the
series titled "Whistle While you Work". His work
interrogates the ideological orientations of avant-garde
movements during the 20th century, which saw art as a practice
for social purposes. Velonis' work reminds us domesticity which
was easily dismissed as it was in the heyday of modernism, when
it was considered a failed and outdated value system among the
upper and middle classes. Apart from historical connotations,
the playful narrations and "awkward" craftsmanship of
Velonis' sculptures demythicize the "revolutionary"
rhetoric and ideological taboos of contemporary "political art".
At the same time they are opening themselves to narratives of
rural life and determine a time line prior to but also parallel
to modernity.
Velonis'
construction materials remain raw - often unpainted pine boards
or humble construction materials scavenged from suburban areas,
placed alongside readymade unidentified objects. The practices
of scavenging, DIY and bricolage offer experiences related to
the cultivation of anonymous folk design, drawing from
already existing forms and structures. Revealing his training as an
architect, the works sometimes represent carefully designed
– almost monumental, one could say – responses in wood and brick
and other times challenge the vertical structure of
sculptural construction revealing its formless and primitive
shape with remnants of steel reinforced concrete, clay and
marble.
In
dialogue with constructions that make visible conditions of
ephemerality are paintings from the artist's series titled "Whistle
While you Work" (from Walt Disney's 1937 film, "Snow White
and the Seven Dwarfs"), a colorful socio
political commentary on contemporary work ethic and the
apotheosis of workers' productivity. These paintings, evoking
an ironic optimism about the improvement of worker's
performance while whistling in their workplace, are combined
with Velonis' sculptures, like studies on issues of a
controversial life between the pursuit of happiness and
the experience of suffering. Velonis in his most recent
production of paintings and sculptures borrows his stylistic
vocabulary from modern masters of abstraction reconceptualising
their appetite for formalism towards a Mediterranean trope with
motifs from Greek folklore, inventing a literature of
the South focused on self-sufficiency and simplicity of rural
life.
Art
Basel
Miami
Beach, Dec.1-4
Kostis
Velonis
Nova
section /Booth N28
