Stella Meletopoulou
Origins
curator: Kostas Prapoglou
opening: Thursday 14 April 2022
duration: 14 April – 14 May 2022
Skoufa gallery proudly presents the sixth solo exhibition of Greek artist Stella Meletopoulou, featuring twenty-four new works on canvas as well as three-dimensional installations.
Acrylic, ink, bamboo, wood, cotton strings, wool and paper are some of the materials that Meletopoulou not only uses regularly but also likes experimenting with in a constant attempt to test and push their limitations on both the canvas and wall surfaces. Working with all of them and meticulously studying their properties has been a long-term quest for her.
Embarking from recent lockdown experiences, and observing the dystopia of war, the artist envisions a restart of life and creation. Notions about interconnectivity, continuation, sustainability, evolution and esoteric revolution are constantly being surveyed and scrutinised.
Sensing and identifying a profound connection with nature, Meletopoulou asserts the significance of our origins and our transformative ability to survive.
Her visual vocabulary propels our attention into the elasticity of space and the fragility of the moment, simultaneously re-evaluating the parameters of our existence.
The works of Meletopoulou emerge as esoteric archives, games of the unconscious, dreams for a different world. They unlock the inner power that unites us not only with our surrounding environment but they also connect collective consciousness with our universe.
The exhibition is accompanied by a printed catalogue.
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Stella Meletopoulou (b.1964, Athens) studied drawing and illustration at ESAG Penninghen and Academie Charpentier in Paris (1983-87). After her studies, she worked as an illustrator in Athens. She studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts with Z. Arvanitis and A. Antonopoulos as her teachers, sculpture with N. Tranos and iconography with P. Samios (2002-8). She graduated from ASFA with Honours and was a scholarship nominee in 2004 and 2006. Meletopoulou has held five solo exhibitions: Modern Aesthetics, Astrolavos art gallery, Athens, 2009; Human Geographies, Nitra gallery, Thessaloniki, 2011; Invisible threads, Skoufa gallery, Athens, 2016; Papers scissors on the rocks, TWOS concept store, Paros, 2018; and Game of threads, KAROUZOU gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, 2018. She has participated in more than 50 group exhibitions in Greece, France, Turkey and Switzerland. Some of them are: Art Skope, Basel, Switzerland, 2018; Art Athina, 2021 and 2019; A heap of broken images where the sun beats, Aegean Center, Paros, 2018; Salon des independants, Grand Palais, Paris, France, 2012; and Sismanogleion Megaron and Theological School of Chalki, Istanbul, Turkey, 2010. Meletopoulou mainly works with abstract painting and, since 2016, has incorporated three-dimensional wall-mounted works in her practice, using threads and symbolic elements, developing and evolving at the same time a personal semiological expression. She lives and works in Athens.
