The Hionas Gallery in
Tribeca is currently presenting a collection of works by artist Eleni
Giannopoulou for the show entitled A
Collection of Things That Float. For her first solo show in New York,
Giannopoulou presents two mixed media installations conveying the notion of
traveling on boats, ships, and similar vessels and the emotions associated with
the journey. The individual pieces in the show are composed of organic
materials and mass-produced objects Giannopoulou found in her native Greece as
well as from recent travels to New York and Mexico. She focuses on the
anatomy of a boat, then looks beyond that by examining the often tenuous
relationship humankind maintains with nature. The installation as a whole
evokes a sense of calmness with the sensation of sailing on a river and moving
along with the rhythm of the waves.
“I grew up watching the
cargo ships coming in and out of the port of Thessaloniki,” Giannopoulou
explains, “and big ferries would take me and my family to my grandparents’ home
in Crete. Since 2015, large numbers of refugees displaced by war started using
Greece as a point of entry to the European Union. When news arrived that many
of their makeshift rafts were capsizing in the Aegean Sea and claiming lives,
the very idea of a boat took on new meaning.
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| A Collection of Things That Float (2018/19) installation by Eleni Giannopoulou |
Giannopoulou’s
integration of found materials and use of repetition in the series serves as a memorial
for those refugees whose lives were lost thereby conjuring up feelings of
sadness and nostalgia for fond memories of a life left behind. In this aspect, her
fleet represents a voyage that is beginning and ending all at once.
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| The May Pole (2019) By Eleni Giannopoulou |
Notable works in the
show that evoke fond memories are Boat
Filled With Books which features a bookshelf holding stacks of books,
mostly classic stories and novels; and Boat
of Another Family Meal featuring a round, 2-part table set for supper on a
barge of thin pieces of wood representing personal memories of Giannopoulou’s
family life. She also has a way of making ordinary objects she remembers from
home items of nostalgia such as beds, toilets, sinks, bathtubs, and even an
ex-boyfriend’s t-shirts.
Within her reminiscing,
Giannopoulou also touches on intimacy in relationships and feelings of pleasure
with Twerking
Workshop featuring clay models of a person and two mythical creatures
engaging in a sexual act. Another piece that touches on these notions is Boat of Couple Not Holding Hands featuring small, flat clay models of a man and
woman lying side by side on a boat made from rusted factory pipe from Greece.
The second installation
in the show entitled The May Pole pays
homage to a classic childhood dance and celebration of spring with several
strings hanging from a pole and symbolic objects and creatures each holding on
to the end of each string.
At Hionas Gallery,
356 Broadway between Franklin and Leonard Streets, through March 30. The
gallery is open by appointment.
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