Socratis Socratous
"So is this great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable, both small and great beasts." Psalm 104:25
February 7, 2019–March 9, 2019The Breeder, Athens
The Breeder is pleased to present Socratis Socratous second solo exhibition with the gallery. Socratous’ work continually offers an organic formalism or a materialized conceptualism through various innately political sculptures, installations, and photographs.
This sea speaks to the idea of borders in relation to natural bodies and their motion through them. In sailing such “great and wide” seas in this exhibition, the artist navigates the murky waters of borders and nature, while constantly alluding to the search of a home, a safe haven. Moving from dark to light, from ruin to hope, from dislocation to safety, these dissonant themes coexist effortlessly throughout his different mediums, materials, and approaches due to the inherent genealogy of his artworks. Each artwork bears its constituent elements and narrates its part in the wider collective history. It is therefore rendered impossible to separate the artwork from the place where it was made, from its memory and turmoil.
Approaching themes of dislocation and ruin, homecoming and homemaking, he achieves organically a discussion on the weakness of human nature, within but at the same time beyond a political or conceptual level.
Socratis Socratous (b. in Paphos, Cyprus, 1971) is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts in Athens. He lives and works in Greece and Cyprus. Selected solo exhibitions include: “Casts of An Island’’, Point Center for Contemporary Art, Nicosia, curated by Michelangelo Corsaro (2016), Saint Severin, Paris, curated by Sophie Duplaix (2015), “Six Open Gates and A Closed One”, The Athens, Αθήνα (2015), 2015 DESTE Prize Shortlisted Artists, Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens (2015) and “Rumours”, Pavillion of Republic of Cyprus, curated by Sophie Duplaix, 53rd Venice Biennial, Italy (2009).
Selected group exhibitions include: “The Intimate Enemy”, Pelagica Gallery, Milan (2017), “Instructions for Happiness”, 21er Haus, Belvedere Museum, Vienna (2017), “Si Sedes Non Is” , The Breeder, Athens, curated by Milovan Farronato (2017), “Cher(e)s Ami(e)s”, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2016), ‘’Curiousity’’, Tinos Quarry Platform, curated by Alexios Papazaharias (2016), “Handsome, Young and Unemployed”, KOMPLOT, Brussels curated by Michelangelo Corsaro (2016), Focus MENAM, Armoury Show, New York curated by Omar Kholeif (2015), “This is not my beautiful house”, Kunsthalle Athena, Athens (2014), “Gestures in Time”, Riwaq Biennial, Palestine, curated by Katya Garcia-Anton and Lara Khaldi (2012), “Mapping Cyprus Crusaders, Traders and Explorers & Mapping Cyprus Contemporary Views”, BOZAR, Brussels (2012), “Restless”, part of the Αdelaide International Festival, curated by Victoria Lynn, Anne and Gordon Samstag Museum of Art, Adelaide, South Australia (2012), “Ηow to Make a Garden”, curated by Elena Parpa, Nicosia, Cyprus (2012), “A Rock and a Hard Place”, 3rd Thessaloniki Biennale, curated by Paolo Colombo, Mahita El Bacha Urieta, Marina Fokidis, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece (2011), “Uncovered: Nicosia International Airport, Project #7”, curated by Pavlina Paraskevaidou and Basak Senova, Ledra Street/Locmaci Buffer Zone, Nicosia, Cyprus (2011), “Farewell”, curated by Themis Bazaka and Marina Fokidis, Kunsthalle Athena, Athens, (2011), “Expanded Ecologies”, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, (2009), “Personal/Political”, Thessaloniki Biennale of Contemporary Art, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Greece (2009), “Where Do We Go From Here?”,
Nicos Chr. Pattichis collection, Nicosia Municipal Arts Center, Nicosia, Cyprus (2008), “The Garden”, Greek participation, Tirana Biennale, Tirana, Albania (2001), “Spring Collection”, DESTE Foundation, Athens, Greece (1996). His work is included in the Collection of the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, the State Collection of Cypriot Contemporary Art, the Dakis Joannou Collection, the Nikos Pattichis Collection and more.
