Athanasios Argianas
The length of a piece of string cut at the width of its circumference
February 10, 2011–March 19, 2011The Breeder, Athens
The Breeder is pleased to present Athanasios Argianas’ second solo exhibition at the gallery. Argianas’ new body of work stems from an interest in the use of linear strands of information like cassette tapes, musical scores, as analogies for how we perceive things. Texts engraved on sculptures which in turn describe open ‘virtual’ sculptures, fabrics folded on three-dimensional ‘hangers’ and scans of dust etched on mirrors.
On the ground floor of the gallery we encounter Argianas’ “Song Machine”, a spindly wiry and elegant construction, which appears as if a thin shiny ribbon has been folded over a right-angled minimal sculpture; upon closer inspection the material is brass, a hard metal bent and curved as if it is soft. Still, a closer look reveals the phrase: “the length of your arm unfolded, of the width of a strand of your hair, … the length of a piece of string, of the width of its circumference”. The text itself almost alludes to a virtual sculpture, one we cannot see. The strips actually form a Möbius loop again – there’s only one surface, which twists round – the text is endless thus. A second piece of the same series, kind of inverts the game; this time a piece of silk is hung on a structure, which gives its shape definition and solidity.
The second part of the show continues this play with material strands, strips, lines and strings with “A Centimeter Running Down From Your Eyes To Your Collar Bone”. A series of Y – shaped objects, standing at different heights, depending on the height of each model that the artist has used for casting. Each object is a thin strip of material covering the distance travelled by tears, as indicated in the title.
Argianas’ work proposes “a broadening of the category of things we might consider to be instruments of mensuration”, explains writer and curator Tom Morton in his review of the artist’s work in Frieze magazine and concludes that what Athanasios Argianas is calling for through his work is actually “new yardsticks and new clocks”.
Athanasios Argianas (Athens, 1976) is based in London and is a graduate of Goldsmiths College in London. Argianas has presented his work in the 2nd Athens Biennial Heaven in the exhibition “For the straight way is lost” curated by Diana Baldon, Athens (2009). He was nominated for the DESTE Prize 2009, which was presented in the Museum of Cycladic Art in Athens. Currently he is working towards two different installations & performances, to be shown at Tate Britain, Art Now Live (London, March 2011) and in Barbican Art Gallery (London, April 2011). Argianas’ selected solo exhibitions and projects include: “The Length of a Strand of Your Hair, of the Width of Your Arms Unfolded”, National Museum of Contemporary Art, EMST, Athens (2009), project room commission, curated by Daphne Vitali, We All Turn This Way, The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, The Serpentine Gallery, London, and La Galerie at Noisy Le Sec, France. He has also presented his works in numerous group shows in institutional and private spaces in Europe.
