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NELLA GOLANDA
b. 1941, Athens. Lives in Athens. Hellenic Space X, 1969
A manifold of structural forms defined by diverse visual perspectives on the same surface constitute Hellenic Space X (1969), by the landscape sculptor Nella Golanda. This colored woodcut (edition of 12), is one of the pictorially complex works that the artist made during the early years of her artistic practice, and is part of the Hellenic Space I-XVII series, created between 1966 and 1970.
In these compositions Golanda explored the qualities of multiple layers of architectural traces, ancient structural elements, shades, light, and transparencies, with the visual outcome being an amalgam of an almost surrealistic interplay with memory and history. Hellenic Space X is an imprint of a process, a graph of a procedure that is yet to be defined completely in space; a recording in a language that is still in development.
The Hellenic Space colored woodcuts were included in Golanda’s first solo show at the Athens Art Gallery in 1970 and they are considered iconic as they introduced her unique later practice as an urban landscape sculptor. They can be described as two-dimensional studies of Golanda’s plan to manipulate formal elements in order to re-imagine the human experience in a preexisting urban locale. Besides the woodcuts Golanda also made the Suggestions for the Humanization of the Public Space (1970-72), a series of small-scale, 3D walled structures, identified by the artist as “built sculptures”, which also bridged her move towards the public structured space.
Golanda’s pioneering career as a public landscape sculptor is best characterized by the
term “Total Art”, meaning art creation that aims at formulating a complete experience
for the visitor; not just a mere aesthetic one, but an opportunity to become part of the ever-changing urban life. Golanda opts for the articulation of locales that are timeless and
in a constant state of synchronization. Such works include the Flisvos Central Square and Sculptured Quay in Paleo Faliro (1976-78 and 1984-86 respectively), the Axioni Sculptured Theatre (1984-86), the Sculpted River of Larissa and the development of the center of Larissa (1993-98).
Artist Website: www.sculpted-architectural-landscapes.gr
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