ALEXANDROS YIORKADJIS

ALEXANDROS YIORKADJIS

Existential Quests in Sculptural Rendition Return to rough terrain; this is what the work of sculptor Alexandros Yiorkadjis advocates. In these years of the hegemony of materialism and high speeds, Yiorkardjis retraces the silent, absolutely internal and painful processes of communication between the person and the deepest field of their inner-self: the struggle to expand the meaning of existence, the temptations and hurdles that undermine the route towards the sublime, the path to self-knowledge. The artist delivers his work unwaveringly focused on bringing forward such timeless issues. His consistency could be thought of as groundless romanticism in a setting where such topics are either disdained or deemed resolved. Therefore, the very fact of their review imbues his work with a philosophical dimension and a pronounced faith in the hunt for the ideal. In this manner, the artist refreshes various approaches to man s spiritual adventure, whilst at the same time remaining nonchalant towards the version of a different function of Art. Milton s and Blake s Paradise Lost takes root in Yiorkadjis work, far from any religious association, with entirely as would be expected personal means of configuration. And, of course, it seems utopic that art, amidst the prevalent materiality of the matter and its realistic tangibility, would attempt to represent intangible visions and not just by depicting the Soul and the Spirit in the idyllic manner of Yiorkadjis predecessors, the Classicists Canova and Vroutos. There is, instead, an interpretative attempt to register conditions by employing expressive codes pulsating with clear symbolisms and tensions, borrowing from Expressionism for the retracing of the ailing being, to Buddhist Zen for the serenity of self-fulfilment. The Cypriot artist Alexandros Yiorkadjis studied Sculpture at the Academies of Fine Arts of Perugia and Bologna, and the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Marseille. Italy, the par excellence country of the Renaissance and majestic sculpture, has been his Alma Mater. This is the first time his work is shown in Athens. Having garnered awards and distinctions abroad (2008) and staged several exhibitions, he now presents a cluster of six works infused with conspicuous affinity between form and content. Their titles Between the Being and to Be, Logos, Dreamcatcher, Unity, Balance, Collective Consciousness are energized by the power of their signification to render the artist s aims more accessible. A distinct feature is the double-sided manifestation of the works which serves the robust juxtaposition of either completely opposing situations or potently inter-complimenting symbols. His distinctive iconography does not engage with pretentious aestheticism. Without a doubt, the acrylic resin he chose to be his primary resource, albeit lacking the gleaming of the ancient material, comprises with its neutral and toned-down dyed whiteness, the ideal tool for the fruition of the plastic gesture. This exhibition features four of his six sculptures in the version of cast bronze and aluminium through the lost-wax method replicas of the initial works crafted in acrylic resin. The alchemy of the materials, the various phases of a painstaking process, the moulding technique, the stages and development of the creative act which alternates between materials and technical means depending on the requirements of each artwork having, of course, at the tip of the spear, the rendering of emotions and solidification of the symbols through the expressions of the form preserve the inextricable relation between the maître and the visual artist. Yiorkadjis subjects

his plastic formations to scrutiny, avoiding anything redundant. Dedication to the use of the torsos, relief and faces, moves precisely within the framework of choosing the essential. Besides, it is inside the head that man s ideas, knowledge, thoughts and thymos, coexist: a specific identity, in effect a homeland that defines their life. The feeling of monumental minimalism is pronounced by the absence of bodies. The forms-symbols, sometimes in swirling Vorticism, and other times along horizontal axes, paradoxical, high-relief busts from a non-space, are carriers of concepts and emotions. Manifestations of pain, agony, despair, euphoria, self-knowledge, perfection, the eternal struggle of the perishable-spiritual bipolarity, are the protagonists in the composition entitled Between the Being and to Be. In the Dreamcatcher, Yorkadjis fertile eclecticism utilizes the skull, an evidence of Vanitas, encountered en masse in 17th c. European painting, as well as representations from the religion of the ancient Egyptians the scarab and god Anubis, equivalent to Hermes Psychopomp incised into the bosom of the forms. Here, the scale measures the heart of the dead against the weight of a fine feather. The range of the artist s concerns includes the renowned harmony of coexistence between humans, regardless of their race, religion, gender or education. In Collective Consciousness, for instance, a small universe of forms with different features takes shape from a purely abstractive process, with an emphatic affirmative for mutual acceptance and peace. The appeal that Eastern religious have exerted on the artist is made obvious here. Gender relations could not have been absent from this allegorical anthropography. In the unsteady Balance, the familiar double-sided arrangement places man and woman facing opposite directions, underlying the impasses, rivalry and lack of communication. By contrast, Unity, a solid egg-shaped configuration, shows masculine and feminine merging hermetically, swirling into a single whole, where the curves and cavities of the human body are insinuated. The archetypal oval form encloses the power of creating and perpetuating life. This is the only work of advanced abstraction, where the representational vocabulary is almost abandoned. The also double-sided Logos, finally, is the inventive configuration of the word s ambivalence. Both the Logos-intellect and the Logos-noise bear their eloquent symbols: halo for the contemplating being, incoherent blabber for its antipode. It is quite evident that the artist s position negates multiple readings. Ambiguity and the spectator s personal interpretation do not make part of his intentions. Conceptional self-efficiency connects the works on display, works claiming an understanding of expressive tools and achieving direct communication with their receiver, as vehicles of a humanistic view of Art. The whole endeavour is yielded from long contemplation and private introspection. This is precisely why the lived experience stands far from any tedious didacticism. In spite of the careful economy of means, the sensitivity with which Yiorkadjis treats his topic is pervasive, alongside the soft poeticality and refined emotion his sculptures emit. Nelly Kyriazi Art Historian

Tra l Essere e Essere ( Between the Being and to Be ) aluminium with white enamel paint 145x150x55 cm created in 2014, edition of 5

Collective Consciousness acrylic resin 175x210x20 cm created in 2016, edition of 5 Logos acrylic resin 75x45x45 cm created in 2016, edition of 7 (opposite page)

Dreamcatcher bronze 81x54x43 cm created in 2016, edition of 5

Balance bronze 41x44x44 cm created in 2016, edition of 5

Unity bronze 65x42x42 cm created in 2016, edition of 5

ALEXANDROS YIORKADJIS Alexandros Yiorkadjis was born in Nicosia, Cyprus in 1981. He studied art at the Accademia di Belle Arti Pietro Vannicci in Perugia, Italy, at the École Supérieur des Beaux-Arts de Marseille, France under the Erasmus project, and at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna, Italy, from where he graduated with distinction. He was awarded the first prize in sculpture (Premio Nazionale delle Arti) in 2008 at the Italian Arts Competition. His work is in the collections of the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Nicos Pattichis Collection, the CYTA Collection, the Central Bank of Cyprus Art Collection and in numerous private collections in Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Romania. Solo Exhibitions 2014 Harmony and Contrast, Museo Cassero della Scultura, Montevarchi, Italy (curated by Alfonso Panzetta) 2013 Human Being, Alpha C.K. Art Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus 2012 The Body, International Film Festival Human Rights Nights XII Edition, Cinema Lumiere, Bologna, Italy 2008 Alexandros Yiorkadjis, Artsinergy Gallery, Bologna, Italy Group Exhibitions 2016 Art Athina International Contemporary Art Fair, Athens, Greece, with Alpha C.K. Art Gallery 2015 Salone del Mobile di Milano, Fiera Internazionale di Design, Milan, Italy, with Barbara Frigerio Contemporary Art 2014 No Words, Larnaca Municipal Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus (curated by Tonia Loizou) 2013 SetUp Contemporary Artfair, Bologna, Italy, with Arteespressione Gallery 2013 Tra l Essere e Essere, SetUp Contemporary Artfair, Bologna, Italy, with Arteespressione Gallery (curated by Matteo Pacini) 2012 Cui Bono Kuldfabrick, White Box Gallery, Munich, Germany Utopia, The Evagoras Lanitis Center, Limassol, Cyprus 2011 The State of Art, Padiglione Accademie 54, Arsenale-Tese di San Cristoforo, Bienanale di Venezia, Venice, Italy Corpi Esposti, Barbara Frigerio Gallery, Milan, Italy 2009 Stile Libero Italiano, Studio d arte Cannaviello, Milan, Italia 2009 Umano, International Film Festival Human Rights Nights IX Edition, Bologna, Italy 2008 Immagina Arte, 10th Reggio Emilia Art Fair, Accademia di Belle Arti, Bologna, Italy 2008 Tina B., The Prague Contemporary Art Festival (curated by Artsinergy Gallery), Prague, Czech Republic

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