Inspired by the 1984 exhibition and pivotal publication “Something that is Beautiful” (Kati to Oreon) by the “Friends of Ant1” Elika gallery presents a group show that examines the boundaries of kitsch in contemporary art.
Originating in the art markets of Munich in the 1860s and the 1870s, the term kitsch (Derivative of the German kitschen = to throw together a work of art) was used to describe cheap, popular, and marketable pictures and sketches. The aesthetic was excessive and melodramatic and has since then been associated with low cost as well as taste.
According to Walter Benjamin, an avid researcher of this trend, kitsch is unlike art a utilitarian object that lacks any critical distance between the object and the observer. It provides immediate emotional relief, requiring no mental effort and no exaltation.
The works presented in the exhibition, juxtaposed to a selection of objects that could be characterized as kitsch, introduce and negotiate this sense of distance between object and observer that kitsch apparently lacks. While a number of the artists on show deliberately employ the vocabulary of kitsch, in the works of others the references to the aesthetic are circumstantial. On the whole the works that are brought together examine and open up the contemporary place of kitsch trough its appropriation.
Participating artists: Dimitris Antonitsis, Jack Burton, Jorge Cabieses – Valdes, Manolis Daskalakis – Lemos, Christopher Doulgeris, Olga Evangelidou, Takis Germenis, Alexia Karavela, Kalos & Klio, Laura Kikauka, Konstantinos Ladianos, Vasilis Papageorgiou, Ilias Papailiakis, Aliki Palaska, Angelos Papadimitriou, Giorgos Stamkopoulos, Spyros Staveris, Sofia Toumpoura, Pavlos Tsakonas, Vasilis Zografos.
On the evening of the Private View Olga Evangelidou will present her performance piece ‘for a permanent magician’s disappearing act’.
Private view: Tuesday 8th of March, 8pm
Duration of exhibition: 8.03 – 16.04.2016
Opening hours:Tuesday – Friday: 12-8pm | Saturday: 12-4pm
Elika Gallery, 27 Omirou st., 10672 Athens T: +30 210 36 18 045, www.elikagallery.com
