Timestorm
2-25 April, 2011| Z. Athanassiadou Gallery | Thessaloniki, Greece
"Wave", Mixed media on paper, 198x136 cm, 2011
Countdown of the Timestorm
by Georgia Kotretsos
Effie Halivopoulou’s devotion to memes* of the human body serves as an in-depth study of her own cultural heritage. Halivopoulou’s work is a self-portrait in progress, which reaches its peek in Timestorm. The main body of work entitled “Wave”, “Hourglass”, and “Garden” precisely reflects the artist’s personal and professional state of being. Timestorm reads as a warning from a place of knowing – from inside the artist.
The order in which the works were painted tells a highly dramaticized story. Beginning with the moment ‘a’ wave hit Halivopoulou’s core, after Hokusai that was so powerful – it left the artist in awe. The aesthetically seductive wave takes two- thirds of her large canvas – it is on the verge to swallow anyone who dares to lay eyes on it. The artist offers us a tête-à-tête taste of her worst fear – a potentially destructive threat she hopes to make peace with in “Hourglass”. In a highly controlled surface Halivopoulou depicts her subject in hollow and muted gestures as if somebody had pressed pause. We are unable to know whether time has stopped or whether there is none left. She messes with our emotions because we are left purposely in the dark in regards to the duration of this intense pause. Only in “Garden” our breathing briefly recovers, yet an unsettling aura governs this painting. In the foreground myriad stylized stencils of the human body at a first glance appear to be exotic flowers and then we curiously remain to consider their cause and meaning on that surface. Once again, we cannot be sure whether this garden has just blossomed after the wave’s violent passing or it is this very garden about to disappear under water.
by Georgia Kotretsos
Effie Halivopoulou’s devotion to memes* of the human body serves as an in-depth study of her own cultural heritage. Halivopoulou’s work is a self-portrait in progress, which reaches its peek in Timestorm. The main body of work entitled “Wave”, “Hourglass”, and “Garden” precisely reflects the artist’s personal and professional state of being. Timestorm reads as a warning from a place of knowing – from inside the artist.
The order in which the works were painted tells a highly dramaticized story. Beginning with the moment ‘a’ wave hit Halivopoulou’s core, after Hokusai that was so powerful – it left the artist in awe. The aesthetically seductive wave takes two- thirds of her large canvas – it is on the verge to swallow anyone who dares to lay eyes on it. The artist offers us a tête-à-tête taste of her worst fear – a potentially destructive threat she hopes to make peace with in “Hourglass”. In a highly controlled surface Halivopoulou depicts her subject in hollow and muted gestures as if somebody had pressed pause. We are unable to know whether time has stopped or whether there is none left. She messes with our emotions because we are left purposely in the dark in regards to the duration of this intense pause. Only in “Garden” our breathing briefly recovers, yet an unsettling aura governs this painting. In the foreground myriad stylized stencils of the human body at a first glance appear to be exotic flowers and then we curiously remain to consider their cause and meaning on that surface. Once again, we cannot be sure whether this garden has just blossomed after the wave’s violent passing or it is this very garden about to disappear under water.
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