This almost never fails to provide more fuel for my thinking, and today yielded a sculptor from my half home town of Thessaloniki in northern Greece: Vally Nomithou.
I have been completely blown away with her pieces from the exhibition Let it Bleed, and feel both inspired and excited. Two more views of the same piece are from Vally Nomithou's website, and for those of you who understand Greek, here is a short film.
Oh my, what powerful yet sensitive and beautiful work! Interesting that Kiki Smith's name comes up - I love her work too. Thanks for sharing this, will study it even more.
ReplyDeleteI have missed your posts Marja-Leena, so it is great to hear from you. It is powerful work indeed, and has taken me back once more to look at Kiki Smith's.
DeleteThat is an amazing piece.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it just! I felt that this one piece alone deserved to be concentrated on from different angles before seeking out the other equally stunning pieces.
DeleteOlga, I have been obsessively googling Vally Nomithou since I first looked at your post last night. I need to see her work properly, in the flesh, so to speak, and I am willing to travel in order to do so.
ReplyDeleteI felt the same way when I first saw Berlinde de Buyckere's sculptures and it's interesting that one of the reviewers made the same connection. It's also interesting that both artists use unconventional materials, paper and wax.
It's work that brings on a strong emotional reaction before thinking kicks in: the hallmark of great art.
I also liked what she said about her work, and about the role of sculpture, its immediacy and how it freezes a whole process into a static 'soma' thus stopping time. Wonderful.
Thank you, thank you, and now I must be on the lookout for an exhibition of her work.
Eirene, I wondered if perhaps you knew of her, and had seen the Let it Bleed exhibition in 2010. I noticed on the About page of her website that it says: 'The works are in the National Sculpture Gallery in the new wing of the Emfietzoglou Collection, as well as the Sotiri Feliou, Ari Stoidis and other important Collections.' I don't know if they are still there and accessible. Perhaps you will be able to see them. Vally Nomithou's email seems to be there too, and as I think she is in Athens perhaps she can let you know where you can see work. I do hope you manage it - it would be quite something.
DeleteI'm appalled that I've never heard of her, but so often I've found that there is a divide between the UK and Continental Europe in art, with the gaze more often facing across the Atlantic.
I have never been to the National Sculpture Gallery Olga, because it's out of the way for us, and I have never seen any reviews that would entice me to go there. I now have a reason to visit, though.
DeleteWe are going away to the mountains in the Peloponnese for a few days, leaving in about an hour, but when we get back I will investigate - they might be closed for August, and if they are, I will wait until September. I will also email her when we get back.
I agree with you about the divide between the UK and continental Europe, but I also think that it's to do with gender - women never get the same exposure that men do, or very rarely. It's a pity: so much talent remains unrecognised.