Art Seen is delighted to announce the first solo exhibition by the Greek artist Marina Genadieva at Art Seen Gallery, Nicosia. The exhibition is curated by Takis Koubis and Maria Stathi under the auspices of the Embassy of Greece in Cyprus.

Aerial Passages poses the question of crossing boundaries and, in particular, the movement of crossing invisible boundaries, such as those of the Buffer Zone [known as Dead Zone and Neutral Zone in Greek].These are not ascertained officially either on the ground or on the map; they are perceived through insight and sight. The presence of these works here aims to transform visual form into an active image, to set the artwork in motion through interaction with the observer. In this respect, these are not representations, becoming, rather, image acts, visually encapsulating their transformation into active artefacts.

In Western art, the curtain delineates the framework of a work of art, opening a space for symbolism and ambiguity through the concealment/unconcealment of ambiguous areas of the image. The curtain in Aerial Passages (2022, 200 × 300 cm) consists of 1.5 million coloured glass beads threaded by hand, translating the painting experience into space. The subtle motion caused by air – space breathing – creates multiple openings, passageways to the realm of invisible boundaries, which are ensured by the focus of the space-image at a certain interval from the observer. This image in motion creates the actual condition of the landscape, evoking a primordial experience of Nature.

Flower Remains (2021/22) are figures sculpted in organza and thread that evoke a state of collective death and decay. They acquire a body, which is, however, not a substitute for the body of the dead or the missing: Through an ambiguous perception in terms of the scale and texture of absent human bodies, they attempt to impart physicality to the living form of an image.

M15 Mines and M49A2 Mortar Shells (2023, enamelled stoneware clay), presented in the guise of ceramic sculptures, morph into image to shed their dangerousness and convey the actual neutrality of the Neutral Zone, a non-topos. Acting as artefacts of the neutral and possessing neither place nor hearth, they reject the qualities of utility and belonging to become vessels that convey the peace of primordial Nature.

Two of 18 endemic and rare plants, Tulipa Cypria and Anthemis Tricolor (Landmine Flowers, 2021/2022, watercolour pencil on paper) become direct, Vera Icon-like, physical imprints in a botanical register of natura naturans. The parallel drawn with neutralised Bursts of flowers – bloodstains in the form of a cosmological arc of “Poppies” of the species Papaver Rhoeas, which grow profusely in the Buffer Zone – captures the uniqueness of the imprint in a fusion of natural and artistic imagery.

Like the self-introducing artefacts of Antiquity (skyphoi, kylikes, lekythoi, which state their own creator or owner) these Kraters – Vessels of Time (2023, glazed ceramic, mirror, iron) invoke the life of the inhabitants, the danger of explosions in the minefield of the Buffer Zone, visualising the ‘Rude Style’ shape and at the same time depicting the patterns of plants on the tulip-filled hill– dotted with spots of a symbolic fusion – a tempering process dictated by  the heterochrony of Cypriot vases.

Text by Takis Koubis

(Translation from the Greek original text by Dimitris Saltabassis)

*Monday 26.06 and Wednesday 28.06

Meet the artist Marina Genadieva in a talk with Takis Koubis & exhibition catalogue launch at 18:30

The catalogue is generously sponsored by The Embassy of Greece in Cyprus.

About the Artist

Marina Genadieva (born 1989, Athens) is a visual artist who lives and works in Mammari, Cyprus. She studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (2010–2016), where she obtained her MA in Fine Arts (2020–2022). In 2014 she attended the University of Art and Design Linz (Kunstuniversität Linz) in Austria on an Erasmus scholarship. In 2022 she received a scholarship from the Athens School of Fine Arts for the assignment of an auxiliary teaching project for the academic year 2021–2022 in ‘Visual Arts with a focus on 3D sculptural applications using soft materials, fabric, pattern design, sewing techniques.’ She utilises a variety of narrative tools and media (painting, sculpture, video, and neocraft approaches). Her narratives reflect on social concerns, folk traditions, personal experience, events, contemporary environments and situations. She creates image acts exploring themes that resonate with the current global social and geopolitical turmoil. Qualities such as fragility, sensitivity and handcraftedness are evident throughout her work. She has been featured in exhibitions in Greece and other countries: Art Seen Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus (2022); Proxy Gallery, Los Angeles, USA (2022); Platforms Project NET, Athens (2021); ‘Art Knows No Borders,’ Athens School of Fine Arts & Ministry of Migration & Asylum (2021); ‘Art Your Service,’ Kypria International Festival, Nicosia, Cyprus (2019); ‘The Performance Shop,’ Athens Epidaurus Festival (2018); City of Athens Art Gallery (2015); 5th Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art & Kodra Field of Action (2015); 7th Athens School of Fine Arts Student Biennale, B. & M. Theocharakis Foundation (2014); ‘International Painting Annual 4,’ Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio, USA (2014).

Acknowledgements: Marina Kontou, Alexandros Konstas, Panagiotis Pasantas

** PLEASE NOTE: In July the exhibition will be open only by appointment

Opening hours: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 16:00 – 19:00 or by appointment

For more information, please contact Maria Stathi, Founder & Director, Art Seen

+357 22006624 | info@art-seen.org | www.art-seen.org