ART ISLANDS:Poros-George Lappas
George Lappas is one of the innovative and restless artists of the generation of the ‘80s, who contributed significantly to the rejuvenation of neo-Hellenic sculpture by proposing a pioneering viewpoint of sculptural environments, rethinking the concept of three dimensional creations in relation to their environments. The relation between the viewer, the work and the immediate environment is the key for his work.
By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: CITRONNE Gallery Archive
Every year CITRONNE Gallery in Poros Island organizes a series of exhibitions that reflect complementary perspectives, themes, and visual undertakings. This year’s theme is “Boundaries”. The series of exhibitions for 2017 is innagurated with the exhibition “Figures and Rucksack with Ears-The Overcoming of Boundaries” with works by George Lappas. The 34 works of the exhibition cover the period from 1997 to 2016, except his sculptures on show are and studies, and drawings, a part of his work that is not widely known. George Lappas work includes sculptures, constructions and installations, usually large, which explore the relationship between sculpture and space, as well as the viewer-artwork communication. During the ‘90s he produced his most popular section of his work. This phase is dominated by the human figure and the bright red color. The figures whether single or in groups, are usually life-size, often fragmentary or made by assembled parts, in order to be able to reshape constantly. Those constructions, reminiscent of statues and mechanical devices at the same time, challenge the static nature of sculpture with their extensive potential for transformation. “Rucksack with Ears” (2013) is a bronze cast of his mixed media “Backpack and ears” (1990-2007). Except his well-known “Blue” and “Red” figures on presentation are lesser if not totally unknown sculptures studies and drawing of: Solon, Giorgos (two from his life class models at Athens Shcool of Fine Arts and Chris a magician who owned a small store in Athens, Three people whom the artist used as models for almost his entire career. As his window and artist Aphrodite Liti says “After finishing the School Giorgis collaborated with Solon and Mr Giorgos for his drawing studies in the workshop, while Chris worked in the same space until the closing of the business. Continuing his work on figures for certain types of his work, he replaced his models by his own figure, chiefly in his work on acrobats and balancers. On my visit to the foundry I spotted a number of works that Giorgis attempted to transfer to material. It was a unit he had been working on throughout the course of his artistic life. These were figures of Solon, Chris, and Mr Giorgos, and the “Rucksack with Ears”. So, when I was recently asked to present his works in the Gallery CITRONNE, I immediately visualised this group in the limpid space of Poros. Here not only the architectural space where the exhibition would take place, but also the high relief of the landscape would fittingly mark this period of his sculptural work”. This exhibition attempts to give the most complete picture possible of the complex personality and work of George Lappas and his long and search.
Info: Curator: Dr Tatiana Spinari-Pollalis, CITRONNE Gallery, Papadopoulos Avenue, Poros Island, Duration: 20/5-11/7/17, Daily 11:00-13:00 & 19:00-23:00, www.citronne.com
