ART ISLANDS: Antiparos-Sam Falls & Joe Bradley

Since Athens School of Fine Arts opened in 1939, its first two Annexes in Hydra and Mykonos Island, The Greek Islands have been gathering artists from Greece and abroad to work and exhibit their work. This has rendered Greek Islands as a center of artistic creation. Two American artists Sam Falls and Joe Bradley present works in the Greek Island of Antiparos.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Galerie Eva Presenhuber Archive

Sam Falls creates works that incorporate a playful yet conceptually rigorous approach to material and process. Interested in the nature of photographic exposure and representation, Falls has experimented with the long-term effects of sunlight, rain, and temperature on such diverse materials as painted aluminum, heat-sensitive tiles, and colored glass, as well as fabric, copper, and marble. The artist is also interested in the role of the viewer, creating works that are experiential and interactive. Combining forms that reference familiar objects such as windows, benches, and playgrounds with natural processes, the artist draws attention to the passage of time and our engagement with the objects around us. Joe Bradley presents “Sculpture for Billy Hand”. In his sculptural work there seem to exist two opposing ways that, in terms of their effect on the viewer, couldn’t be more different from each other and yet give the impression that they unite two imminent art-historical standpoints: On the one hand, there are open-form, figurative bronze sculptures on pedestals, in their form and manner, these works can be perceived as both following and continuing Bradley’s early paintings in an archaic-cartoonish style. On the other hand, there are closed-form minimalist sculptures, which are to be classified as part of the tradition of his “Modular” Paintings. These cubic, man-sized sculptures, some monochrome, others bicolored, are primarily characterized by their significant and emblematic presence. Similar to the black monolith in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), Bradley’s colored monoliths seem to repress the surrounding space and powerfully face the viewer. At the same time, the vibrant and comic-like colors impart the works a playful ingenuousness.

Info: Sam Falls, Kastro, Antiparos Island, Duration: 26/6-27/8/16, Days & Hours: Fri-Sun 18:00-23:00, Joe Bradley, Neokastro, Antiparos, Duration: 26/6-27/8/16, http://presenhuber.com