IT FELT LIKE A KISS

Gallery Nosco presents:
“IT FELT LIKE A KISS”
A Solo Show with
Alexandros Vasmoulakis

Private View: 12th April – 18.00 – 21.00
Exhibition Runs: 13th April – 28th April 2012
Print Release: 21st April 12pm
Artist Talk: 21st April 3pm

50 Redchurch Street, E2 7DP London

Kindly supported by:

What is it that thou wouldst have in a silver charger, O sweet and fair Salomé, thou that art fairer than all the daughters of Judaea? What wouldst thou have them bring thee in a silver charger? Tell me. Whatsoever it may be, thou shalt receive it. My treasures belong to thee. What is it that thou wouldst have, Salomé? 1

Salome. The voluptuous young princess who performed the seductive dance of the seven veils inflaming King Herod to the point that he would bring John Baptiste’s head in a silver charger. Judith. The beautiful widow who allured the enemy general Holofernes and managed to decapitate him to save her city of Bethulia from the Assyrians. Delilah. The woman who became the object of Samson’s desire and was able to deceive him by making him unveil his deepest secret concerning his immanent great strength.

Ferocious attractive women that cunningly exploit men are drawn out from the cosmos of Jeudo, Christian and ancient Greek mythology and become the central subject matter in Alexandros Vasmoulakis’ new work. Moving from his previous depiction of vigorous and dynamic reclining nudes that sarcastically gaze at the male viewer, the artist once again unleashes the forces that control the conflicting relationship between men and women and enhances the infamous personality of a femme fatale.

Through a colorful mixture of oil, ink and acrylic, Vasmoulakis’ female protagonists are rendered as supernatural creatures. Deities that deviate from images of mere objectification. The artist’s rough brush strokes and abrupt lines intensify their Dionysiac nature, which is playful and humorous, as well as liberating. According to Vasmoulakis, the patterns of a patriarchal society throughout history have been established due to men’s lustful desire and simultaneous fear of women. An issue that reverberates to the mythical association of Eros and Thanatos with the disquieting charm of female beauty.

However, the artist distorts their features, suggesting their physical attractiveness without representing it. He portrays the castrated man, who, disarmed and powerless, witnessed Death and Desire, confessing that this revelation “felt like a kiss”. Once more Vasmoulakis figures become strange amalgams of the past and present that can never be captured and solidified, but somehow perfectly trigger a stream of consciousness of the eternal game between the two sexes.
Elli Paxinou

1 Herode, from Salomé: A Tragedy in One Act by Oscar Wilde

also view our previews post about Alexandros

Maria Panosian live

Saturday, March 3, 2012 at 9:30pm until Sunday, March 4, 2012 at 11:30pm
@ Baumstrasse / doors open at 22:00 / 8, Servion str., 2nd Floor / Votanikos / Athens (metro stration: metaxourgio)

Photo: Skevi Skevinski
Album Art: Xaritini Kyriacou 

This live, is the first official presentation of her first solo album “Patomata Vregmena”. A night full of music and motion pictures in the background..

 “Τα πατώματα , βρεγμένα, μπορεί να γίνουν επικίνδυνα. Δημιουργούν συναισθήματα φόβου, την ανασφάλεια μιας επικίνδυνης ισορροπίας. «Πατώματα βρεγμένα» είναι ο τίτλος που διάλεξε για την πρώτη της δισκογραφική δουλειά, ένα χρόνο πριν, η Μαρία Πανοσιάν. Πρόκειται για 12 ορχηστρικά κομμάτια, ένα τραγούδι και δύο απαγγελίες ποιημάτων που έχουν ντυθεί μουσικά. Ουσιαστικά, μιλάμε για την αφήγηση μιας δυνατής συναισθηματικής κατάστασης. Για την εξομολόγηση αλλά και τη λύτρωση από ένα χωρισμό. Οπως συχνά συμβαίνει, το τέλος γίνεται η αφορμή για μια καινούργια αρχή. Μια συναυλία με φόντο εικόνες. Με το πρόγραμμα να περιλαμβάνει εκτός από τα δεκαπέντε κομμάτια του άλμπουμ και καινούρια δικά της και δύο διασκευές έκπληξη.” 

Μαρία Πανοσιάν: Πιάνο - Φωνή.
Γιώτης Παρασκευαίδης: Ηλεκτρική κιθάρα
Σταύρος Παργινός: Τσέλο - Μάντολα
Βασίλης Πλαγιανός: Hλεκτρικό μπάσο
Video art: Μαριλένα Σοφοκλέους
Προβολές: vj Nisidis
Ηχοληψία: Παναγιώτης Χούντας

more info and music visit Maria’s website

Alexandros Vasmoulakis

collaborations: Paris Koutsikos / Andonis Kyriakoulis

for more detailed info and credits visit artist’s website

Την Παρασκευή 9 Μαρτίου, στις 7μμ,  και για μία μόνο ημέρα, ο Αλέξανδρος Βασμουλάκης μας προσκαλεί σε ένα preview / party στο Ε.Δ.Ω. (Δανιήλ Προφήτου 18, Αθήνα 10435).
Αφορμή αυτής της βραδιάς αποτελεί η παρουσίαση του νέου κύκλου δουλειάς του στην οποία πρωταγωνιστούν μυθικοί ήρωες και ηρωίδες. 
Διαφορετικές προσεγγίσεις σε ιστορίες και μύθους με κοινή θεματική τη συγκρουσιακή και αλληλοσυμπληρούμενη σχέση αρσενικού και θηλυκού.
Σαλώμη και Ιωάννης Βαπτιστής, Σαμψών και Δαλιδά, Ιουδήθ και Ολοφέρνης, σειρήνες , νύμφες  και σάτυροι σε μια συνάντηση απειλής και παιχνιδιού, σαγήνης και απάτης.

Rembetiko

David Prudhomme writes in the preface that even if he’s not Greek, musician or smoker, the universe Rembetiko, with the anarchist spirit,  swept him away from the first moment. At first he was intrigued by the environment which Rembetiko was developed, through neighborhoods, in the infamous prison, in the dens, the ports of Piraeus and Thessaloniki.

After was amazed by the forms of rebetiko, the musicians, the Rembetes, fringe brothers in life and exile. The theme of rebetiko, who was born in the decade of 1920, it also can be compared to that of the Portuguese fado, the Argentine tango. Some call it the Greek blues… (photos and translated text from here)

“David Prudhomme was born in 1969 and lives in Bordeaux in France. He is a graduate of the Arts School of Angoulême. In 2006, he adapted two novels by François Villon, and collaborated with Rabaté on La marie en plastique, published by Futuropolis. Télérama considered Rébétiko “his masterpiece” and Lire named it the best graphic novel of 2010. Prudhomme was also honored by prizes in the Angoulême Festival,  the Saint Malo Festival, and the Monaco Festival. His music collection includes records by Markos Vamvakaris, Yorgos Batis, and  Anestis Délias.” source

find the book here

ps.thank you Xaritini for giving me the chance to read it!