Art Seen gallery is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Kyriakos Kallis. The show 'How to Make a Mountain' is curated by Maria Stathi with a text by Alexios Petrou.

RHIZOME AND ASSEMBLAGE

According to Bachelard, the dwelling place is vital in human life – it is the point of departure, the first universe, one's own corner of the world, where one can take root and feel safe, just like a mollusc sheltering in its shell… Kyriakos Kallis's memories of this location, where one can watch the sunrise (Idalion – Greek for watching over the sea), seem to be powerful; it's where his past almost mystically unites with the present. Due to the complexity of the plains, to quote Deleuze and Guattari, and their complex relationship, this location becomes supremely interesting. Rather than the horizontal and vertical axes around which the artwork is structured, what is most fascinating here is the multiple points of view and points of contact produced by the encounter of the plains – in other words, the familiar world described by Bachelard. A world that is now a shelter, now a means to escape, now a hive.

This solo exhibition by Kyriakos Kallis vividly traces an ongoing creative endeavour to excavate the Self, to find the Self, but also to arrive at those liminal situations that illuminate the primordial human essence, as well as, in Heideggerian terms, the inner relationship between earth and world. In this respect, here, the creative act may be described in terms of a topographic and/or bodily landscape as well, since it denotes an excursion into the territory of the Self to reveal a world both fragile and uncharted. Though it may not seem to suggest a predetermined unity, Kallis's creative output, through the synapses of all its diverse elements, essentially points out precisely how an ongoing, insistent creative interpretation of earth and world is able to highlight ruptures and fragments.

Daydreaming on the northern slope of Ierakarka, Kallis proposes creative outcomes of inconsequential things, masterfully carving on their hard shells. The artist creates a whole out of parts large and small. For Kallis, all these unimportant, seemingly unrelated things serve as a rhizome that regulates and binds together his own cosmos.

Alexios Petrou

Associate Dean
Professor of Philosophy
School of Education
University of Nicosia

(Translation from the Greek original text by Dimitris Saltabassis)

About the artist
Kyriakos Kallis was born in 1960 in Dhali, Cyprus.

He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts, Prague, Czechoslovokia (1982-1988), on a state scholarship.

“Shoa: How was it humanly possible?”, Museum of Pancyprian Gymnasium, Nicosia. The exhibition was inaugurated by the Minister of Education and Culture and the Ambassador of Israel to Cyprus (2020). “Escape Attempts”, Art seen, Nicosia (2019). «Rooms to Contemplate», Bank of Cyprus Cultural Centre, Nicosia (2017) «Ars Moriendi», House of Cyprus, Athens (2016). «Maniera Cypria», Evagoras and Cathleen Lanitis Centre, Limassol; «International Exhibition – Sculpture and Object XVII Cyprus – Contemporary Sculpture», Bratislava, Slovakia (2012). “Body: stories and representations”, Evagoras and Cathleen Lanitis Centre, Limassol (2010). «98-UN and Art in Support of Peace Talks», at Nicosia old airport; «Un Certain Regard: Unevision de l’Art contemporain chypriot”, Paris (2009). ‘Where do we go from here?’ Selections from the Nikos Pattichis and “Phileleptheros” newspaper collection, Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre (2008). “OPEN 10”, International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations, Lido-Venice Solo presentation of the installation “Ars Enigma est”, UNESC? building (2007). «Accidental Meetings», at the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre Associated with the Pierides Museum of Contemporary Art (2005).  Megalithic Monument at Heroes’ Square, Aglanjia, Nicosia; «Noise Obsessions», installation at old SPEL building Nicosia; «Noise Crossings» installations in deserted areas close to the Green line, Nicosia (2003). First exhibition of the “Noise of Coincidence” group, Nicosia (2001). ‘From the Chisel to the Electron@ 20th century Cypriot sculpture, State gallery, Cultural Services of the Ministry of Education and Culture, Nicosia, Cyprus (2000). “Primitive Observer”, solo exhibition, Gallery Argo, Nicosia (1999).

Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 16:00 – 19:30

or by appointment

For more information, please contact:

Maria Stathi, Founder & Director, Art Seen
+357 22006624

info@art-seen.org
www.art-seen.org