spiros pierris
spiros pierris
The architectural dimension is evidently present in the totality of Spiros Pierris’ visual art. The geometric and organic elements that become the recurrent themes throughout his work, from painting and drawing to video, photography, sculptural structures and installations, are played not only against each other but also as constructs or ideas in a game of communication. Therefore the concept of space in his work becomes symbolic and attains a codified status as it turns itself into a vehicle in his attempt to redefine and reestablish communication between the artwork and the public.
In her review of the artist’s video installation “ Inside the Cube (… and the dream lives on)” in the art journal ARTI the Art Historian Marily Argirokastriti achieves a very incisive reading of Spiros Pierris’ oeuvre as she explores the central features pertaining to it. She states that: “the current passage into the space is not alien to anyone familiar with Pierris’ career. One easily perceives the continuity and does not treat the present enterprise as separate from his previous work. This impressive installation consists of a room made of lead which contains both a camera that videotapes the viewer, as well as a theoretical miniaturization of the room itself: a box, in other words, also made of lead, with a clay sphere inside it. Set on a pedestal and protected by glass, it clearly projects the fundamental concern of the work.
The little box, prey to our voracious eyes gives the viewer a false sense of security.
We observe the ball sitting in the centre of the ominously half-open box from the distance that we think we have. We don’t realise that we are often observing ourselves through the work. And this is actually proven once we enter the mysterious room. The aggressiveness of the phallic elements and the symbolism of the sexual urge in the artist’s early work is not far removed from the aggression expressed by our entry into the dark womb-like room of this installation.
This is a space we believe we have conquered unaware of the eye that moment by moment captures our personal time, our image, our reactions which we readily exhibit in the security of the darkness and privacy. Does our gaze turn and regard us the moment we become the art work, the moment when spectator becomes spectacle?”
In more recent projects as “Neighbourhood of Dreams” Spiros Pierris turns to investigate utopian and dystopian issues, questions of urbanism and cultural production, collective identity and the interface between architectural practice and contemporary art. Finally in increasingly involving its audiences the artist purports to emphasize the open ended character of the project which has also been an inextricable part of the whole body of his work.
1975 INTERNATIONAL WEEK FOR THE ARTS (Supported by the Ministry of
Culture and UNESCO), Corfu Palace Hotel, Corfu
1978 INCONTRI MEDITERRANEI, Centro Internationale D’ Arte e Cultura
Mediterranea, Bridisi, Italy
1986 MINIATURE EXHIBITION, Del Bello Gallery, Toronto
1990 ART EVENT, Chroma Gallery, Corfu
1993 +PRAXIS, Antonia Havani Contemporary Art, Corfu
1995 SWEEP YOUR FEET, Antonia Havani Contemporary Art
1996 EVERYTHING VISIBLE IS IMPORTANT, Antonia Havani Contemporary Art,
Corfu
1997 ART ATHINA 1997, Works presented by Antonia Contemporary Art,
Athens
2000 CONTEMPORARY ART EXHIBITION, French Institute, Corfu
2004 ART ENCOUNTERS curated by Manos Stefanidis and Haris Savvopoulos,
Kassiopi, Corfu
2009 GROUP EXHIBITION, Old Customs House of Loggos, Paxos
2011 NOTHING IS BLACK OR WHITE, Cutated by Antonia Havani, 7 Arts Venue,
Corfu
2012 GROUP SHOW, Corfu Gallery, Corfu
2016 THE WINDMILL, EP Launch Party and Exhibition, Death Machine,
Dreaming in Monochrome, London
1977 MODERN MYTHOLOGY, Hellenic American Union, Athens
1984 MINIATURES, Bombapiazza Art Space, Corfu
1986 MASKS, Peter Phillips, London
1987 MASKS, Art Waves, New York, USA
1993 MNEMONIC FIELDS, Antonia Havani Contemporary Art, Corfu
1996 INSIDE THE CUBE (… and the dream lives on), Antonia Havani Contemporary Art, Corfu
2006 SOLID SPHERE site specific installation, St Stefano, Corfu
2011 IN PURSUIT… OF LINES, Plous, Corfu