Jannis Varelas
A Duck And A Crutch
15 Oct - 19 Nov 2016
JANNIS VARELAS
A Duck And A Crutch
15 October – 19 November 2016
“ How do you know that you’ve raised your arm?” - ”I feel it.” “So what you recognize is the feeling? And are you certain that you recognize it right? You’re certain that you raised your arm; isn’t this the criterion, the measure, of recognizing?”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical investigations §625
A Duck and a Crutch is an exhibition organized in three main parts that define a path through space and time.
The first part is based upon reality as we know it today in Europe. Encompassing painting, sculpture and performance, it deals with the lack of trust, the lack of leadership and the structural inability to sustain emancipation, happiness and morality. A dominant painting in the room works as a landscape or even a window; it offers glimpses of agony but also hope. This central piece provides the background for the performance Bingo Players, the ultimate enactment of the aphasic status of men in power, focusing into their lack of innovation in decision making process and highlighting the purity of their confusion. The set up is surrounded by stuffed snakes made out of fabric and other works that read as plot managing elements in a set of different conditions.
An ongoing action marks the second part of the show duck and a Crutch. In a different set up, a pear, a strawberry and a cupcake are playacted by thee performers who are continuously drawing their portraits. In a tormenting monologue, each character is drowned in his own oblivion and struggles for self awareness. Among them, the artist’s own portrait stands as a carcass of authority.
Four large format paintings mark the third and final part. Through anthropomorphic depictions, they bring back the concept of the archetype as it has been explored in previous works.
A Duck and a Crutch is a show developed and realized within the last year, while traveling in between the States and Europe. Through this swift, objective reality and personal narratives mingle into a metaphor and several juxtapositions.
Jannis Varelas, Vienna, October 2016
Jannis Varelas was born in 1977 in Athens, Greece lives and works Los Angeles, Athens and Vienna
A Duck And A Crutch
15 October – 19 November 2016
“ How do you know that you’ve raised your arm?” - ”I feel it.” “So what you recognize is the feeling? And are you certain that you recognize it right? You’re certain that you raised your arm; isn’t this the criterion, the measure, of recognizing?”
Ludwig Wittgenstein, Philosophical investigations §625
A Duck and a Crutch is an exhibition organized in three main parts that define a path through space and time.
The first part is based upon reality as we know it today in Europe. Encompassing painting, sculpture and performance, it deals with the lack of trust, the lack of leadership and the structural inability to sustain emancipation, happiness and morality. A dominant painting in the room works as a landscape or even a window; it offers glimpses of agony but also hope. This central piece provides the background for the performance Bingo Players, the ultimate enactment of the aphasic status of men in power, focusing into their lack of innovation in decision making process and highlighting the purity of their confusion. The set up is surrounded by stuffed snakes made out of fabric and other works that read as plot managing elements in a set of different conditions.
An ongoing action marks the second part of the show duck and a Crutch. In a different set up, a pear, a strawberry and a cupcake are playacted by thee performers who are continuously drawing their portraits. In a tormenting monologue, each character is drowned in his own oblivion and struggles for self awareness. Among them, the artist’s own portrait stands as a carcass of authority.
Four large format paintings mark the third and final part. Through anthropomorphic depictions, they bring back the concept of the archetype as it has been explored in previous works.
A Duck and a Crutch is a show developed and realized within the last year, while traveling in between the States and Europe. Through this swift, objective reality and personal narratives mingle into a metaphor and several juxtapositions.
Jannis Varelas, Vienna, October 2016
Jannis Varelas was born in 1977 in Athens, Greece lives and works Los Angeles, Athens and Vienna