Page 8 - Collectanea
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NIKOS ALEXIOU
b. 1960, Rethimno, Crete. d. 2011, Athens.
Cross, 1998
String Curtain (no 2713) String Curtain (no 2712)
Cross and String Curtain (no 2713 and no 2712) delineate aspects of the prolific work of Nikos Alexiou. The artist evolved his practice around the study of natural phenomena (light, movement, reflection) and careful consideration of the palpable, recurring patterns and grids that he articulated through multifaceted and tireless acts of crafting.
Cross (1998), belongs to a series of works with the same morphology yet different size that Alexiou crafted during his stays at Mount Athos. Starting in 1995 the artist made frequent visits to the Iviron Monastery on Mount Athos, a place where he was able to observe the ecclesiastical and liturgical practices of the ascetic life, and approach their symbols and patterns with a speculative aestheticism.
The work was formulated around a rectangular grid made from tightly fixed reeds, interlaced with red twine and finished with wax; it epitomizes the use of all the organic materials that Alexiou favored and continually re-established throughout his works. The choice of stitching crosses with red twine stands as another reoccurrence of a motif that he must have noted around him as an indisputable element of the Mount Athos experience. The crosses therefore function as an observational code that Alexiou expressed with a disciplined accuracy and devotional repetition.
Two perforated hanging pieces made from horizontal reeds and vertical interlocking
white string synopsize the formal characteristics of String Curtain. For Alexiou the activity
of handcrafting was of an essential significance, it was a practice of inspection and articulation of memory through exercise. It is through the methodical yet volatile organization and manual braiding that the “curtains” appear as liminal partitions that gently unsettle space, with distant allusions to the very basic architectural infrastructures.
For as the “curtains” hang from a ceiling, they resemble skeletal recollections of human activity based on an almost archaic accumulated wisdom; the elemental know-how of sheltering and formatting a receptacle. As they unfold and interact like rhizomes, they stand as translucent and open-ended barriers, inviting the viewer to approach them stochastically. Alexiou, the genuine craftsman, reclaimed through the constant appropriation of his very own process the architecting of void and imminent physicality that will always remain current.
Artist Website: www.nikosalexiou.com 8























































































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