OPEN TODAY UNTIL 17:00

Lydia Delikoura

CYCLADIC CAFE ART PROJECT

MARCH 27 UNTIL MAY 20, 2024

Hedgehog spines, discarded consumer package labels, and other found objects worm their way into intricate compositions. The seemingly disconnected fragments, both personal and familiar, symbolic and mundane are homogenized; all belonging to a poetic flow of stuff, creating new non-hierarchical systems.

This horse diptych is a dialogue between a marble horse sculpture in the archaeological museum of Eleusis and its industrial backdrop. It is an inquiry into the way these archaeological fragments sit within this evolving industrial centre. The paintings capture the layers of time embedded within the eerie landscape of the port of Eleusis. They question the symbolic nature of the archaeological fragments in relation to the incessant movement of industrial materials at the port. What is the spiritual capacity of these sculptures in their perpetually evolving urban environment?

The horses remain stoic amongst the disused factories and smokestacks. However, there is no hierarchy of elements in the paintings; graffiti, broken windows fragments and archaic motifs coexist harmoniously, nevertheless uncomfortably in their dystopian backdrop. The significance of the hedgehog spines in the paintings are an earthly allusion for the viewer. They form the eyelashes of the horses and are the harshest element on the surface; these are the window into the spirit of the horses which enables them to be perceived as portraits.

In the images she creates, we notice that Delikoura reappropriates both objects and symbols of a mass production culture, reducing them with the use of cultural signifiers, such as Byzantine motifs, to a unique “world” of her own, a visually structured environment. Byzantine motifs are often the crux of the work; emerging in three-dimensional form and gradually dissipating to the surface, where they fragment and transform into living and breathing flora and fauna. Her process of creating the works starts from the formation of preliminary lines marked on the surface of the canvas, which she perceives as the “waters” of a marble surface. These lines, either chiselled or woven, form a grid indicating the space where the artist will constellate an “environment”. Mysterious relationships between the natural and material elements that Delikoura has collected and arranged meet and emerge through a quiet landscape. Symmetrical lines and fixed patterns start to transform, and bursts of energy released from the fragments start resembling mythical creatures, celestial events, and biological processes.

THE ARTWORK

Lydia Delikoura
Out of love the last two hours, 2023
The Fading Pink of a few Ghostly Swear-Words
, 2023
100 x 88 cm each
hedgehog spines, acrylic and watercolour on canvas
Lydia Delikoura, photo3
01
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
Lydia Delikoura, Photo 7
02
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
Lydia Delikoura, Photo 4
03
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
Lydia Delikoura, Photo 1
04
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
Lydia Delikoura, Photo 2
05
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
Lydia Delikoura, Photo 6
06
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
Lydia Delikoura, Photo 5
07
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
01
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
02
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
03
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
04
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
05
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
06
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art
07
Photo. Paris Tavitian
© Museum of Cycladic Art

THE ARTIST

Lydia Delikoura (b. 1996, Athens) is a multidisciplinary artist working across drawing and installation. She is a graduate student of UAL, Camberwell College of Arts and Goldsmiths University of London. She has undertaken an artist residency at High-House Working Residency, Antony Gormley’s Estate, Norfolk UK (2018). She was commissioned by high fashion brand PAOLITA to create the annual installation in Notting Hill, London, as part of the artist residency (2021).

In June 2022, she participated in the site-specific group exhibition, Ismaïl project, with the Ministry of Culture, Tinos, Greece (2022). Recent group shows include Iridescence, Alkinois, Athens, Greece (2022) and Looking with the Eyes of Love, The Breeder gallery, Athens, Greece (2023). In 2014 she received the Tio Ilar award for most promising young Greek artist, exhibiting in a group show including young artists from Turkey and Greece. In late 2023, she started working with ITERARTE in London, and is part of their VARIATIONS project of collaborating with traditional artists to create a limited series of her works in another medium. She is currently studying Marble Sculpture at the School of Fine Arts, Panormos, Tinos.

CYCLADIC CAFE ART PROJECT

LEARN MORE

The Museum of Cycladic Art presents the Cycladic Café Art Project – part of the Modern Art Program – combining places of social gathering with art. With the ultimate aim of embracing the Greek and international scene of modern art, the Museum presents works by internationally acclaimed and emerging artists linked to its current exhibitions and activities at Cycladic Café. The Cycladic Café Art Project motivates the dialogue between art and everyday life.

Curated by:
Aphrodite Gonou & Atalanti Martinou

WITH THE SUPPORT OF

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