ART CITIES:Athens-Zoë Paul

Zoë Paul has long been interested in the history of classical sculpture and often addresses this in her work. By parodying works of art from bygone eras, particularly classical Greek sculptures and artefacts, Paul uses geometric abstraction and everyday material to create unexpected relationships which provoke questions of value and taste.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: The Breeder Gallery Archive

Zoë Paul’s solo exhibition “Solitude and Village” is a genealogy of domestic objects, that disrupts common perceptions of both archaeological and contemporary artifacts, symbolism and bodies. The exhibition is an amalgamation of objects that bleed into one another, transgressing historical moments and place, to unravel the buried histories hidden in their shadows. Her series of wool weavings on vintage fridge grills have strong painterly qualities and combine the remains of a disposed domestic appliance with the production of textiles for the household. The artist defines this practice as sculpture, since it is the object that she is interested in, along with its relation with the body. Choosing the fridge grill as a base for her weavings, she talks about how the invention of the fridge, as an appliance changed society and culture. Zoë Paul’s bead works are made of clay and hang on the wall as a portable threshold, simulating a door that is neither closed nor open, which allows free access in and out while breaking the line of sight. The artist gathers the clay from a remote beach of Kithira island in Greece and she fires each bead, in a time consuming process that is almost meditative. Downstairs is a space of unlicensed transgression, no longer heads on plinths and neatly codified grids, but fully formed female figures. Body parts crossing and out of sync. The images are constructed out of hand rolled ceramic beads; pixelated, they resemble abacuses and screens. Their gaze is beyond the viewer, their form again is indefinable and locatable nowhere.

Info: The Breeder Gallery, 45 Iasonos Street, Athens, Duration: 28/5-30/7/16, Days & Hours: Tue-Sat 12:00,18:00, http://thebreedersystem.com