Expoziția ”Atopos”, artist rezident Christoforos Botsis , Galeria ”Aparte”, Facultatea de Arte Vizuale și Design Iași, miercuri, 29 noiembrie 2023, ora 13:00, str. Codrescu, nr.6 Iași

Curator: Maria Bilașevschi

Afiș: Andrei Alecsandru Pantea

Colaborator: Ana Stoica

Proiect prezentat de asistent univ. dr. Ioana Palamar

Vă așteptăm!

Atopos : unusual, out of place, relating to atopy, which is a feeling of displacement, ineffability and unfamiliarity.Atopos is a mixed media project which occurred during November 2023, as part of the U.N.A.G.E. Iasi international residency programme. Continuing the mixed media approach I had adopted in previous residencies (in 2022 in KuBa:Kulturbahnhof in Germany and in 2019 at the Old School Residency in Bulgaria) I explored themes of emotional ineffability, dislocation, alienation and fragmentation. I worked on several mediums at the same time, creating experimental cut-out drawings, monotype etchings and paintings, with the aim of creating a collage – installation.The work was produced exclusively throughout the duration of the residency. It was an experiment in what work can be produced in a short period of time in direct response to a specific environment. The purpose wasn’t to create a polished, finalised artwork. Rather, this presentation is simply a temporary stop in an ongoing process. The project contemplates on the nature of creativity itself, and it creates a visual experience out of the incoherent thoughts and trajectories an artist follows while working in the studio. The theme of atopy also relates to the essence of the artist, who always seems to be slightly off-kilter, going through life with their own unusual perspective that cannot be adequately put into words, yet it can be evoked through images. The starting point for Atopos was drawing, which is the connective element between all the different mediums. I adopt drawing as a form of visual research in order to navigate through my thought processes. The drawings I create are intuitive and impulsive, however some visual themes emerge consistently: fragmented faces, mangled limbs, distorted and sprawling compositions of abstract elements that can be viewed from many different perspectives. This approach carries through to all the other mediums I worked with throughout the residency period. Fragmentation is a vital theme in understanding and experiencing the work, which is also expressed using paper cut-outs, creating elements that don’t match with each other. Instead, we have a collision of disparate elements. Each element exists in relation to one another and the border between them is an active border. Each element, within a painting or a drawing but also each artwork in relation to one and other, is defined by its difference with all other elements. They are in conflict with each other yetneed each other. In many ways, people themselves are fragmented and have to make peace with different parts within them that don’t match. The process of living is intense and fraught with complexities. Atopos is a project that attempts to reconcile this sense of inner disruption.