Jannis Varelas
Marlows' Dreams

The Breeder is pleased to present Marlows’ Dreams, Jannis Varelas’ new solo exhibition. The title refers to Joseph Conrad’s book, Heart of Darkness. Varelas creates a new body of work, where new means and materials like bronze and carpet weaving coexist with techniques familiar to the artist’s practice, like drawing.

Jannis Varelas focuses here on the concept of reflection; of mental reflection and of the psychological landscape. The works are an attempt to explore the inner human topography, but also the concept of insight, as a separate dimension.

The exhibition includes bronze sculptures, works on paper and handwoven rugs, that redefine the idea of the figure in the work of Varelas, through materiality and its existence to physical space. The works on paper capture peculiar, mystical landscapes composed of exotic flora, from where various floating characters seem to emerge. Specifically, these drawings embody the artist’s attempt to connect the real and the inner world.

For the first time, Jannis Varelas creates a series of rugs, handwoven with silk and wool, which function as reflections of the psychological landscapes. For the artist, both the material of the rugs and the production process of an image though knots, transfers in a metaphysical way an inner process or working to the real space and time.

The handwoven rugs were created in collaboration with Art Rug Projects by Soutzoglou.
Art Rug Projects by Soutzoglou, based in Athens, focuses on the interactive collaboration with Greek and international contemporary artists who are invited to create handwoven rugs and tapestries as original works of art, either as limited editions or as unique pieces.

Jannis Varelas (b. 1977 Athens, Greece) lives between Athens, Vienna, and Los Angeles and is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts and the Royal College of Arts in London. His work has been the subject of solo exhibitions internationally including Double-Blind, The Breeder, Athens (2021); Anima I, The Benaki Museum, Athens (2019); Monster, Onassis Cultural Center, Athens (2017); New Flags for A New Country / Destroying Elvis, Onassis Cultural Center, Athens (2016); New Flags for a New Country, The Breeder Gallery, Athens (2015); Sleep My Little Sheep Sleep, Contemporary Arts Center of Cincinnati, USA (2012);

Selected group shows include: Distorted Portrait, Space K Seoul, South Korea (2020); Supergood-dialogues with Ernesto de Sousa, MAAT Museum, Lisbon (2018); Instructions for Happiness, Belvedere 21, Vienna (2017); Ametria, based on an idea by Roberto Cuoghi, DESTE Foundation and The Benaki Museum, Athens (2015);Paper – works from the Saatchi Collection, Saatchi Gallery, London (2013); Hell As Pavilion, Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2013); DESTE Prize 2011, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens (2011); Skin Fruit: Selections from The Dakis Joannou Collection, curated by Jeff Koons, New Museum, New York (2010); Lebt und arbeitet in Wien III: Stars in a Plastic Bag, curated by Xenia Kalpaktsoglou, Raphaela Platow, Olga Sviblova and Angela Stief, Kunsthalle Wien (2010); 12th Cairo Biennial (2010); New Orleans Biennial Prospect 1, curated by Dan Cameron, New Orleans (2008); Destroy Athens, 1st Athens Biennial, Athens (2007).

His works are part of numerous public collections worldwide including The Dakis Ioannou Collection, Greece; The Onassis Foundation Collection, Greece; Gilbert and Doreen Bassin Collection, NY; Belvedere Museum, Vienna; Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki; Christen Sveaas Collection, Norway; Mathias Döpfner Collection, Denmark; AMMA Foundation, Mexico; The Saatchi Collection, London; Moscow Museum of Modern Art, Russia; The Benaki Museum, Athens; The Zabludowicz Collection, London and Hort Family Collection, NY amongst others.