On the occasion of the exhibition with the general title “Continuity”, follow your art gallery extends a dual invitation to a highly acclaimed artist to exhibit his/her work and to also introduce two younger emerging artists and their own work. The criteria with which the artists are chosen are subjective and may be based on either α common artistic approach, a shared appreciation for the same medium or, by contrast, they may involve different perspectives and the ensuing prospect of a stimulating intellectual dialogue. The fusion of artistic proposals will offer, each time, a unique visual outcome.
Within this context, painter Stefanos Rokos inaugurates this year’s exhibitions and introduces the visual artists, Sofia Rozaki and Kleopatra Tsali. In the work of all three artists, there is a common interest in depicting the human entity and nature from a surrealistic perspective. Their style is laborious, with fine lines and subtle humour, but with a clear autonomy in their rendering and intentions.
“The invitation by Georgia Tseri to open this new series of exhibitions under the general title ‘Continuity’ by presenting, along with two of my recent works, selected work of two younger artists, was not a difficult task for me. I have followed the work of Kleopatra Tsali and Sofia Rozaki for many years, with the admiration that I have for any artist that challenges my perception of a visual image. The commonalities I find in our aesthetics run deeper than shared influences and points of reference. Both artists have, innately, those qualities that I strive for throughout my artistic journey: an inexhaustible appetite for creativity, groundbreaking ideas and their attention to the essence of detail. I am proud to present to the public some of their characteristic works, as I am also pleased that our collective works, like odd companions, will spend ten days together in the gallery space, endlessly chatting away and analyzing whatever may be more or less interesting in their lives.”
Stefanos Rokos
“Through my work I try to grasp the complexities of identity, as a fluid and ever-changing condition, exploring concepts such as memory, trauma, desire and sexuality. Using this as a starting point, my works are characterized by the element of narrative, a non-linear and timeless narrative, in which embodied experience plays a leading role. The affinities between the three of us are felt at first glance. A feeling like you're not watching a static image but a story in progress. Human and non-human bodies, hybrids, meet and interact in environments that juggle between real and surreal, familiar and unfamiliar. Three different visual languages with common patterns, shaped with fine strokes that carry intense symbolisms, create images that despite their apparent calmness, hide a subcutaneous tension. The artistic dialogue that begins with this exhibition moves me very much and I believe that it can give life to new shared creative paths.”
Sofia Rozaki
“The entirety of my visual practice explores the ways and places of wandering, of temporary settlement, nomadism and by extension the relationship with the environment, as well as issues of coexistence. Approaching mobility as a way of searching for identity and its constant redefinition, I would like my works to function as research starting points, scattering traces on an imaginary map of constant movements. Its imprint and reproduction, materialities bearing earthly characteristics, contrasts, the seemingly structural anarchy, the error, the play of revealing and concealing, the peel and core of vegetables, the remains of food, traces of flowers, the horror that becomes a celebration, are just some of the elements that I feel connect me with the work by Stefanos and Sofia. I am very excited by the prospect of our projects co-existing and, through this, by the prospect of an eventual emergence of new links between us.”
Kleopatra Tsali
