Zoumboulakis Galleries present Christophoros Katsadiotis’s new solo exhibition, titled “Conversion” that opens on Thursday 13 of January, 2022.
Christophoros Katsadiotis presents a new body of engraving works (oxygraphs), as well as an animated video created by the latter, standing as an extension of his handcrafted engravings. Katsadiotis intervenes on the oxygraphs with sewed inserted pieces of his own making, makes his works unique. While the moving image and sound of the animation, disturbs the static nature of the engravings, birthing an experimental theatre of images. His engravings parade both familiar and unfamiliar images deriving from the theatrical tradition of Europe, religious mythology, the painting tradition of the Republic of Weimar, children’s fairy tales, the stilts of the street theatre, the Commedia dell’arte and the current sociopolitical conditions.Art historian Elisabeth Plessa, mentions in the exhibition’s catalogue: “Unsuspecting notes from xylophones, menacing laughter, unexpected hallelujahs, grandiose arias, accordion from Paris and the circus, the ritualistic creak of the theatre curtain, warnings from organs, the tuning of toys – the relentless ticking of time- are the motley sounds that are heard in the works of Christophoros Katsadiotis before he even decided to film the theatrical performance of his heroes […] Katsadiotis directs this troupe of a personal dystopian mythology with distinct references to the keen character of Japanese theater, to Dada’s subversive sharpness, to the cynicism of modern comics, to William Kentridge’s ever shifting design, to the mystical atmosphere of the Prague Black Theatre, to the idea of death that pervades the entire theatre of Tadeusz Kantor. His characters come from the world of his engravings that already carries a distinctive staginess, as the compositions against the blank backdrop are reminiscing set design mockups. Familiar figures from his existent prints, appear in the current animation, but in different visual compositions from those that were originally birthed, indicating different ways of viewing them. […] Like in Katsadiotis’s engravings, where the figures – entire or parts of them – cross over cut and sewn from one work to another, in animation they are filmed decoupled and pasted, and then are digitally stitched, from one sequence to another. »
ArtistShortBio:Christophoros Katsadiotis (b. 1971, Athens) graduated with honors from the School of Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, under the professors Xenofontas Sachini and Manolis Giannadakis. Parallel to that, he attended engraving classes at the Academy “The Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design” in Wroclaw, Poland. He has held 13 solo exhibitions in Greece, Poland and France, and has presented his work in numerous group exhibitions of major museums and art venues worldwide, such as, the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Art, (Japan), St. Petersburg Museum of Contemporary Art (Russia), the Lauderhill Arts Center, Florida (USA), the Municipal Galleries of Piraeus & Ioannina (Greece), the National Museum of Nis (Serbia), the Taylor Foundation, Paris (France) and the Portobello Film Festival 2017, London (UK) to name but a few. He is awarded with the Prize of the 12th International Animation Festival in Athens (2017), “12th Athens Animfest” (“Carousel” -Animation engraving), with the Prize of the 1st Biennale of Greek Ex-Libris Engravers in Crete (2012), and the Prize of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2011). His engravings have been used in books of notable publishing houses like: Gutenberg, Kedros, Diatton, Polytropon and Melani, among others, and for the screening of performances at thetheaters,Eurydice, Zéro and Théâtre du Cristalin Paris. Since 2014 he is writing a column for numerous Greek presson art events in Paris. In 2017 he was nominated for the position of Associate Professor or Assistant Professor in the Engraving Department of ASFA. He currently lives and works in Paris and Athens. “Conversion” is the second solo presentation of his work at the Zoumboulakis Galleries.
