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STUDIO METAPLASI showroom STUDIO METAPLASI showroom Footloose 1984 Footloose 1984 Footloose 1990
Maroussi Athens 1984 Maroussi Athens 1984 Table Chair Bookcase
Exterior view Interior views Plate glass top, baked enamel on steel frame, Baked enamel with cabinets, drawers
MDF frame covered in plastic laminate on steel frame, MDF frame
220x100 h75 cm Limited edition MDF frame covered
Footloose 1984 covered in plastic laminate
Desk with cabinets, drawers in plastic laminate 240x40 h240 cm
Plate glass top, baked enamel on steel frame, 50x53 h120 cm Limited edition
MDF frame covered in plastic laminate Footloose 1984
180x80 h75 cm Limited edition Table and chair
Limited edition
205 207 209 211
512 512

Tijuana 1984 Sideboard and Ziggurat 1984 Table Elxis 1984 Table Elxis 1985 Table Dracos Art Center Athens 1985
Collage forms on paper Plate glass top, solid wood base veneered Plate glass top, solid wood base in white lacquer, Interior views
in bubinga and black lacquer, black wood sphere white wood sphere Satelite 1985 Desk
Tijuana 1984
Sideboard with cabinets, drawers 140x140 h75 cm 200x200 h75 cm MDF frame in white and grey lacquer,
Plastic laminate top, MDF frame in white Elxis 1984 Coffee table Interior of Athenian art collector’s home metal sections 144x72 h75 cm
and red lacquer, solid wood legs in red lacquer Plate glass top, solid wood base in black Elxis 1985 Table
203x62 h82 cm Limited edition and white lacquer, white wood sphere 200x200 h75 cm
Ziggurat 1984 120x120 h40 cm Cobra 1985 Modular display system
Table Elxis 1984 Table Pergamus 1985 Desk
Plastic laminate in double glass top, Plate glass top, solid wood base in black Plate glass top, MDF frame in black and white
solid beech structure in white and red lacquer and white lacquer, white wood sphere and aluminum lacquer 190x90 h75 cm
118x118 h75 cm Limited edition 200x200 h75 cm
213 215 217 219
Action - Reminiscence - Transpositions I
...The space between the action and the public is now clearly divided. The mental transposition from the object to action turns into a ceaseless
The action starts in a space where all participants have their own freely rhythm of 'reading' their work on multiple levels of existence,
chosen place. Two elastic surfaces, one horizontal, the other vertical, life and memory and, consequently, a ceaseless rhythm of 'reading' art
form a continuity and represent a course in time as well as two distinct between life and death, when art is only covered with a tangible shell.
states of existence, two possibilities of perceiving reality. This view of the two artists' becomes manifest in the bold mating
The first palpitations appear on the horizontal surface as signs of a still of the plaster cast with its original, covered with their elastic medium.
formless life. Gradually, a symbolic language emerges while man is created. The double record of the same moment in two conditions is a necessary
His action is directed to the environment, his audience is the universe, appendage to their idea. With time the rubber cast will perish, as it happens
the nature around him. He tries to collaborate with these elements until with all tangible offerings when they are not accompanied by
his idiom becomes a commonly understood code which invests the images an intense psychological agitation and participation.
with a recognisable form. The creation of man is clearly correlated This latest phase in the work of Zouboulis-Grekou emphasises the need
to the creation of art in its various different phases. It is a continuous to focus on defining the aesthetic solutions they discover automatically
as part of their intense experience of art. Their works - which consist again
struggle for domination between matter and man, an erotic struggle.
It has no concrete form. Retreat, departure, return. Phases of rise and fall. of slides from moments of their action on the same elastic material- present
Phases of ecstasy and triumph as the human figure acquires a complete irregular forms, metaphorical juxtapositions of an actual moment
form and stands up to come face-to-face with - man. It is from that terrible and the memory of it. The continuous to and fro between the real
encounter, from the momentous moment of mutual recognition and the imaginary world and the memories of specific images are presented
that a dialogue starts to overthrow a great many notions. And the figure in a malleable condition. The shadows created by these images speak
is remoulded again. The process never ends. of something that existed: the way it existed is, again, a matter of free quest.
The whole series of images generated behind the remoulded material Today, at a time when art is once more confronted with the serious dilemma
through the artist's total participation are recorded 'snapshots' of choosing between the acceptance or the rejection of reality, at a time
when it seems that a great many languages and ideologies have been
from the evolution of human mind and human reason. They are 'snapshots'
of compositions from the repertory of art history. If we wish to see them exhaustively used, it has become more necessary than ever before to look
today we can use our memory, not necessarily our minds, as the crystallised at our heritage of experiences and think of it as representations of an entire
findings of some distant research. And we tend to read the external life. In pondering the problems they posed we are not obliged
characteristics of compositions and their subjects, as examples of a special by the evolutionary laws of nature to live through them again.
approach to life through art in a specific era. Nevertheless, we know We can compare them mentally, perhaps to whatever each of us had always
that the evidence art has left us cannot be understood by reading just their dreamed of, some starting point for doing or saying something.
outline. To talk about the 'breath' which we cannot always see might seem The way in which it will be told is not restricted by the chronological order
as a tendency for romantic escape. And yet that 'breath' we can imagine of memories.
If the problem of painting goes back onto the canvas and the image
but not see is an indication that everything that has been done till now
was not just an attempt to embellish or perfect the artistic or physical is restored, if sculpture seeks again the plasticity of matter in order to
environment; it was also an effort to record traces of life, evidence of pulse express itself, the images they provide can no longer talk about forgotten
at various rhythms of participation in the spirit of the times. relations of space, colour and harmonious compositions. They are about
The desire to present art today as a state of total participation with spirit the personal experience of the artist, who has lived through the whole story
and matter is thus imprinted on the inanimate casts from the actions of iconoclasm to start re-drafting the evolution of a new hypothetical world.
of Zouboulis-Grekou. One can touch the 'breath' as it is engraved in rough In view of this problem, Zouboulis-Grekou bring the relationship of art with
relief on the sculptural work that seeks to capture the pulse. This apparent man to the spot where the initial point of contact can be discerned:
detail of the imprinted 'breath' is crucial to the in-depth understanding to the tangible reality which links them, and then to a hypothetical state
of communication which is at once depicted and projected to the future
of their quest.
The plaster casts of body movements - not of the body itself - constitute and which, absurdly, may be visible today as well. In this way foresight
the attempt of Zouboulis-Grekou to capture the metaphysical quality and memory meet each other.
of the process through which creativity is translated into an object.
Through this product, the act of touching also becomes a purely Efi Strousa
metaphysical experience.
Athens, June 1980
Thales 1989 Pergamus 1985 Action - Reminiscence - Transpositions I Action - Reminiscence - Transpositions I Action - Reminiscence - Transpositions I
Desk with drawers Desk with drawers Essay Desmos Art Gallery, Athens 1980 Desmos Art Gallery, Athens 1980
Plate glass top, Plate glass top, by Efi Strousa Exhibition catalogue Exhibition catalogue
MDF frame MDF frame for solo exhibition, Desmos Art Gallery,
in black and grey in black and white Athens, June 1980
lacquer and aluminum lacquer
180x80 h75 cm 190x90 h75 cm
221 223 225 227
512
Impressions and Views of Exhibitions 1979-1980
... The artworks and 'actions' of Zouboulis-Grekou at Desmos
reflected an exemplary method of working and, more importantly,
of artistic functioning; they also revealed their creators' ability
in organising space in the general sense, as space is 'moulded'
by the works and provides viewers with apposite stimuli
and thoughts. Above all, the two artists, who are in tune
with contemporary trends, manage to project their dynamic
personality with a consistency and immediacy which is also evident
in the book-construction with a selection of their activities...
Dora Iliopoulou-Rogan
Athens, 1 August 1980
Action - Reminiscence - Transpositions I Action - Reminiscence - Transpositions I Untitled 1980 Untitled 1980 Untitled 1980 Impressions
Desmos Art Gallery, Athens 1980 Desmos Art Gallery, Athens 1980 Sculpture Sculpture Sculpture and Views
Views of Installation - Performance Stills from Installation - Performance Plaster, Fiberglass, Detail of Exhibitions
Wood structure, stretched white latex, With Nikos Zouboulis white lacquer white lacquer Plaster, 1970-1980
fiberglass and plaster sculptures, white lacquer, 110x90 cm 110x90 cm white lacquer Review
electric light 110x90 cm by Dora
Music Theodor Antoniou Iliopoulou-Rogan
ANTI magazine,
no 157-158,
Athens,
1 August 1980