Page 62 - Genius

aria koMianou

lives and works in Athens, greece

SEARCH THE ARTIST ONLINE www.eikastikon.gr/xaraktiki/komianou_en.html

It requires mettle by an artist in order to spare an entire surface in the
depiction of a leaf with its stalk and nerves, or even the opposite, to
subordinate it in -mutatis mutandis- gigantic monochrome, less or more
strict, geometric forms. This oscillation in between very "small" and
very "big" is the first essential feature of Aria komianou's engraving.
For behind the leaf a multitude of humble themes of daily life: birds,
fish, shells, flowers, fruits, bottles, glasses, vases, hats, boats, etc. line
up, sharing the space with flat, uninterrupted formations that appear
to refer to absolute entities of the world: to the sky, the earth, the sea,
the mountains. If her luscious female nudes as well as the portraits of
musicians, writers, poets and other persons are added to the above, an
indeed rich variety of subject-matters is then constituted.
The second characteristic concerns the 'handling' of light. With each
incision on cut along the grain piece of lime, komianou opens a crack for
the light to go through, while by carving extensive parts she enables it to
blaze her compositions. The straight lines seem to vibrate like strings and
at the same time to 'usurp' something from the softness and mellowness
of the curve, which stands in ceaseless dialogue with them. They store the
warmth of the hand and 'radiate' it automatically through the handmade
paper. After all we should not forget that woodcuts and etchings are the
result of controlled pressure: in the first case by the hand that moves the
chisel and then passes above each part of the paper during the printing
process and in the second one by the hand and the printing press.

Due to the stylization, the distortion, the vigorous abstraction and,
not rarely, the surrealistic inversion of relations and proportions, the
"insignificant", either alive or inanimate, become protagonists of a drama,
renewed continuously by the two decisive elements of the world, the
light and the dark. Dramatic intensity emanates even from the small-
scaled compositions, although there is no "plot". Despite the fact that
in komianou's iconographic scale certain themes -such as the bird- can
be symbolically charged, her primary aim remains the visual adventure.
That is, in what way forms will be organized in order to balance without
losing their dynamism and, moreover, how they will collaborate without
sacrificing their autonomy or maintain their weight by not complying
always with the law of gravity.
Almost half a century of her hand's exclusive 'run* over wood is
impressed—with greater immediacy as a consequence of the fact that
formal drawing has not been generally a prerequisite—literally and
metaphorically in a corpus of prints of imposing volume and high quality,
leaving a distinct hallmark in the history of modern greek engraving.
Alkis Charalampidis, Professor of Art History

 Composition no. 660, 2005 WOODCUT 20,4x11,8 IN. / 52x30 CM.
62