Peggy Kliafa

Opening: Thursday, 26 January 2012

Exhibition duration: 26 January-12 Fabruary 2012

Location: St George Lycabettus Hotel, Athens

Participating artists: Ianthe Angelioglou, Lisa Alexandropoulou, Amalgam Group, Nikoletta Antonakos, DASHNDEM (Demitrios Kargotis and Dash MacDonald), Stella Drygiannaki, Alexandros Kaklamanos, Christina Kamma, Joanna Kassiki, Peggy Kliafa, Matina Koussidi, Thanos Kyriakides, Christos Kotsoulas, Virginia Mastorgiannaki, Natalia Milioka, Yiannis Mouravas, Yiannis Belimbassakis, Panayiotis Brentas, Theofanis Nouskas, Dimitris Papoutsakis, Nikos Podias, Panos Sklavenitis, Efi Spyrou, Yiannis Stamatiou, Theodoros Stamatoyiannis, Anastassis Stratakis, Xenios Symeonides, Nicky Tsachra, Agathe Tsoroni

Peggy Kliafa’s ROOM includes the artworks:

VITRAUX II – REMEDY, 2011, Empty transparent pills’ blisters on clear plastic sheets and MDF with metallic paint, 247 x 126 x 5cm

Peggy Kliafa participates in the “ROOMS PLUS” show at the Kappatos Gallery with the artworks:

VITRAUX I – ROSE WINDOW, 2011, Empty transparent pills’ blisters on clear plastic sheets and MDF with metallic paint, 150 x 150 x 5cm

Catalogue essay

…

Peggy Kliafa has selected as the main component of some of her work the pill or the blister, medical packaging itself. Based on the pill or blister as her building block, she composes images of metal walls, stained-glass windowpanes from well-known European cathedrals, wallpapers, lace, mosaics. Pills of various colours and shapes, and packaging, sometimes intact and sometimes used, opened, wrinkled, are arranged in repeated geometric patterns. This new medium may be said to take the place of the brush, paint, pencil, metal, glass, tesserae, yarn. The structured organisation, full symmetry, flawless execution, all contribute to the effect of a trompe l’oeil with a proliferation of connotations and associations.

Silver/Armory, a wall made by used or intact pill blisters, reproduces a “silver” (aluminum) piece on the wall, which brings to mind Jason Molfessis’ “Iron Corridor” , of 1990, made of polyester and iron. The stained-glass window panes deceive with their beauty and flawless execution. The wallpapers seem real. A sculpture of a human figure made of effervescent tablets is shown on video in the process of being dissolved in water.

The pill inescapably refers to Damien Hirst. Kliafa, however, manages to express herself in a very special way and to arrive at purely personal and well-integrated expressions, with an emphasis on the aesthetic value.

The combination and juxtaposition of the different forms of pills – painkillers, antibiotics, psychotropic drugs – convey the artist’s allusions regarding the content and the consequences of their use. A pill can be remedy or poison, salvation or damnation. Moreover, her works raise issues such as the ephemeral, the relationship of high and humble art, the simulacrum. Finally, the strong conceptual background, combined with the common, perishable, and worthless material and the inspired execution enable aesthetic enjoyment.

Dr. Lina Tsikouta-Deimezi

Art Historian

Curator, National Gellery – Alexandros Stoutzos Museum

ROOMS 2012 – Contemporary-Art Show

Kappatos Art Gallery organises, curates and presents from Thursday January 26 through February 12, 2012, for the twelfth time since 1999, the annual Contemporary-Art Show Rooms 2012 in St George Lycabettus Hotel in Kolonaki.

In one of the most popular and historical contemporary-art shows, 23 curators, art historians and theorists, architects, theatre specialists and choreographers each pick one emerging artist, or group of artists, to be hosted in the rooms on one floor of the hotel. The thirty participating artists will show paintings, sculptures, video-, audio-, photo-installations and environments, architectural projects, design, performances, screenings, films, and much more.

Each artist is hosted individually in each room on one floor of the hotel, where the room interior is transformed into the artist’s private space. This is a great opportunity to present and document the current trends and propositions in the visual-art scene and to initiate a meaningful and fruitful dialogue.

Choosing a different kind of venue, a hotel, for hosting this show was also influenced by the choice for individual showings of artists in the same venue, as well as by the need for each contemporary art work to claim and occupy its own personal, private and simultaneously public place, fully and harmoniously reflecting its nature and meaning today.

The site is a typical hotel, with a specific, mass-oriented organisation, function and social role in the city for visiting, resting, meeting, encounters and communication. Another dimension, that of hosting art works, will be added to the familiar mode of temporarily hosting mostly “foreigners” to the city, as well as the city’s inhabitants who spend a few hours of leisure there. The social role of the hotel is expanded to acquire a cultural and communicative character, becoming a platform for artists to access the general public attending and joining the art works on the same days at the same place.

For many artists, the wonderful and welcoming venue of St George Lycabettus Hotel, located in one of the nicest and most central places in Athens, is an opportunity to create works specifically for this show, works associated with exactly those functions and the role of “a welcoming place”.

The St George Lycabettus Hotel is actively involved and continually hosts and promotes cultural activities, and once again contributes to this event, opening up to the realms of contemporary art and critical thinking.

Opening: Thursday January 26 2012, 20:00-24:00. Exhibition duration: until January 12, 2012
Opening hours: Weekdays 16:00 to 22:00, Saturday and Sunday 12:00 to 22:00

ROOMS 2012 plus

For the first time this year, along with the ROOMS 2012 show, the Kappatos Art Gallery hosts the show ROOMS 2012 plus, featuring works by the artists who participate in ROOMS 2012.