Ripple Effect by TheklaPapadopoulou

Ripple Effect Thekla Papadopoulou

Contents 01 02 09-29 30-31 32-33 34-35 36-37 38-39 40-41

Forward Introduction Ripple Effect Materiality Processes Essence The Invisible Line Conclusion Artist’s CV

Forward Thekla Papadopoulou emotional occurrences

endeavours from their

to isolate associated

context and layer them anew within seemingly unrelated entities. This stratification in the creative frame represents a research practice of which the purpose is knowledge per se, as the catalyst of inevitability, flexibility, and clarity. Current material coincides with the projection of multiple depths on a single level, as the result of consecutive sections through assemblies in variable stimuli. Consequentially, the exhibition suggests that an experience of truth is possible through the multitude of interpretations collected as soon as redemptive persistence loses its conditions of boundary and causality. Georgios Makridis

Introduction Thekla Papadopoulou’s practice as a contemporary painter is centred around the essence of natural landscapes and phenomena, through an experiential and intuitive approach towards materials, surfaces and aesthetics. In an attempt to draw viewers within visual phenomena that reflect these notions, the artist is using abstract painting to depict fragments of an intimate and rather intriguing relationship with surrounding nature. Papadopoulou’s practice entails from a range of resources, in terms of concept, research and materiality, which are then harmoniously combined within striking and elaborate surfaces presented as aesthetic and conceptual objects for interpretation, part of a wider dialogue of personal expression.

Ripple Effect Ripple Effect presents a sequence of the artist’s thoughts and reactions towards a long withdraw from the sea, existing as a means of escape, providing a sense of freedom, calmness and rejuvenation for the artist. This derived from the imposing of quarantine in Cyprus due to the effects of a pandemic, leading to physical confinement and restriction of movement for a number of months. These sudden changes in the accessibility of surroundings and more specifically the absence of the sea, as a visual space, essence and experience, sparked a ripple effect of vast emotions and personal reflections from the artist, translated within a sequence of artworks. This series of abstract paintings deploys a variety of materials, as a means of visualising blurry memories of such encounters, almost as snapshots of an unconscious recollection of imagery and senses, aiming to transfer the viewer within the artist’s mindscapes. The work presented manifests luscious surfaces, deriving from complex layers of contradicting and unifying materials, such as acrylic paint, varnish and glass paint. The use of textiles as both a working surface and a painting tool, adds a cohesive ethereal effect to the work, bringing into the gallery space the essence of fluidity and movement, defining one’s experience when encountering seascapes. The materiality of these surfaces becomes apparent in the work presented, as a medium (re)directing the artist’s processes and techniques, but also as an element utilised in the installation of artworks within the space, taking advantage of the aethereal and transparent quality of these fabrics, and their sensitivity towards the conditions that surround them.

Ripples B’III 120cm x 120cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples B’IV 120cm x 120cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples B’I 150cm x 100cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples B’V 100cm x 100cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples C’I 40cm x 40cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’II 40cm x 40cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’III 14

40cm x 40cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’IV 40cm x 40cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’V 40cm x 40cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’XI 25cm x 25cm - Mixed media on paper

Ripples C’XII 25cm x 25cm - Mixed media on paper

Ripples C’XIII 25cm x 25cm - Mixed media on paper

Ripples A’ I 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples A’ II 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples Α’ III 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas 18

Ripples Α’ IV 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples A’ V 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples B’II 120cm x 100cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples B’VI 120cm x 100cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples D’I 90cm x 75cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples D’II 90cm x 75cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples D’II 40cm x 62cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’IX 35cm x 35 cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’VIII 35cm x 35 cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’X 35cm x 35 cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples C’XI 35cm x 35 cm - Mixed media on fabric

Ripples D’IV 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples D’V 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples D’VI 50cm x 50cm - Mixed media on canvas

Ripples B’VII 120cm x 100cm - Mixed media on canvas

Detail from Ripple Effect Installation - Mixed media on fabric

Ripple Effect Installation - Mixed media on fabric 29

Materiality Michael Evans on An Aesthetic of the Unknown, 2015 explains how abstract painting should not be perceived as ‘an object awaiting interpretation or ‘reading,’ but rather as something that offers a numinous experience (or experience of the unknown), which can be thought about but may remain ultimately knowable and irreducible.’ He describes how this is a result of the blurring between the conscious and the unconscious mind within the realm of materiality, creating a ‘wordless object’ offering an aesthetic experience. In this case, the material qualities that define the nature of abstract painting act as a means of accessibility, allowing the viewer to enter an imaginative process of understanding the artwork or the unknown, by developing a certain experience. Textiles have a central position in the formation of Ripple Effect, both as a way of influencing the artist’s processes and methods, but also as a reflection of the sea essence, that features prominently in the work. Their transparent, aethereal flow within the space, that can also be subject to human interaction in the same environment, creates for the viewer an experiential, almost immersive environment through abstract painting, reflecting the artist’s encounters with seascapes, and the essence that this natural entity provides.

Processes The absorbent surfaces of the fabrics react with the use of paint, creating elaborate stain-like marks that appear almost accidental, since the material takes some control of the artistic processes and methods involved. These stains introduce to the work the element of permanence and irreversibility, contrasted with the fluidity in the application of paint, pointing to the nature of the sea as an omnipresent natural entity with an everchanging, unpredictable behaviour. The transparency and porous nature of textiles is also utilised within the work, by using it to transfer these distinct marks on canvas, converting a rather opaque and rigid surface to imitate the fluidity of the fabric, leaving their trace throughout the whole series of paintings. Papadopoulou’s instinctive response to materials, surfaces and textures throughout her practice, has adapted to the unique qualities of textiles, creating complex patterns, marks and stains as a result of exploring the element of materiality in this work, through the spectrum of the unconscious or the unknown. The spontaneity that is visible in the application of materials in these paintings, brings to light aspects of the artist’s studio processes, drawing parallels between her approach towards artistic practice and her relationship with nature, both based on a personal and intimate experience. This component of the work highlights the artist’s experiential approach towards painting, materials and also nature, creating a conversation between these elements, that are harmoniously intertwined within a visual phenomenon.

Essence Ripple Effect aims to create a sensory experience for the viewers, as a medium of effective communication and interaction between them, the artistic concepts embedded in the work, and abstract painting in general. According to Mark Titmarsh from Expanded Painting: Ontological Aesthetics and the Essence of Colour, 2017, ‘…painting in the twenty-first century is understood as a visual phenomenon that can be physically extended and challenged by non-visual practices.’ Papadopoulou’s artistic practice is informed by the reaction of different senses towards natural phenomena, and attempts to blur the lines between them, creating visual art that goes ‘beyond the eye’ and into a ‘sensory mode,’ that is triggered by a more critical stance towards her paintings.

In the series of abstract paintings presented in Ripple Effect, the artist presents a reconstruction of painting and the processes that define it. Working within the regime of ‘expanded painting,’ defined as a genre in which the interpretation of artworks does not only deal with the visual and the aesthetic but rather looks beyond these qualities (Titmarsh, 2017), to pose critical questions on the existence of painting within a conceptual context. What defines the viewer’s experience when encountering these paintings? How is their materiality, aesthetic quality and display translated within this experience? How does the artist present the essence of the sea within the work? How are these understood by the viewer in relation to the boundaries of painting? Stills from documentation video of “The Invisible Line”

The Invisible Line 200cm x 200cm x 50cm Mixed media on glass 2018

The Invisible Line In 2018, Thekla Papadopoulou was part of a joined project titled The Invisible Line, in collaboration with the composer/sound artist Vassileios Filippou, that was exhibited as part of the exhibition The Sea Within, presented at Limassol Municipal Arts Center (Αποθήκες Παπαδάκη). This collaboration brought together the realms of art and sound, proposing new conversations and exploring extended possibilities between these disciplines. This project involved the sound piece titled Wavescript (Κυματρογραφή); a composition that intertwined sounds referencing the Mediterranean culture, and especially those of the sea waves and footsteps, creating a dialogue between natural and bodily echoes, that reflect ideas of multiculturalism and immigration that are prominent in this area. This inter-disciplinary project was completed with Papadopoulou responding in real time to Wavescript through her art practice, also introducing a performative aspect to the work. This activity culminated in the creation of an abstract painting on a clear glass surface, referencing the issue of geographical and cultural division of Cyprus, as the artist’s painting marks on one side of the glass reflect directly on the opposite side. This artwork embodies a united image formulated by combining sound, art, language and culture, providing abstract painting with new dimensions beyond the visual and the aesthetic, and into a new context of interpretation. By using the essence of the sound piece, the artist is able to enter a new reality outside the framework of the conscious, and use the materials present to create an image of her own mindscapes and present these to the viewer as a piece of her own self.

Thekla Papadopoulou’s practice presents fragments of senses, thoughts and reflections, filtered through a personalised framework of interpretation, and adapted within certain aspects of materiality and methodologies. Through these mechanisms, the artist embodies the essence of natural phenomena through abstract painting, transferring the viewer within virtual landscapes that hover between the realms of the conscious and the unconscious, expanding the possibilities of abstract painting into the sphere of the unknown.

Thekla Papadopoulou t: +357 99 617 088 a: 13 Stadiou Street, Larnaca Cyprus 6020 e: thekla.papadopoulou@gmail.com w: www.thekla-papadopoulou.com

Thekla Papadopoulou was born in Limassol in 1978 and lives in Larnaca, Cyprus. In 1997 she graduated from the American Academy Larnaca and was admitted in the Academy of Fine Arts “Raffaello” of Urbino, Italy, where she followed a four year program of study in Contemporary Art and Painting. She graduated in 2002 with distinction. She now lives in Larnaca where she works as an art teacher at the American Academy Larnaca.

Solo Exhibitions “Ripple Effect” The O Gallery, Larnaca, Cyrpus “Traces” Alpha CK Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus

2019

“Traces” OTE Centre of the Arts, Thessaloniki, Greece Curated by Giannis Argyriadis and Miguel Fernandez Belmonte

2018

“Fragments” Apocalypse Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus Curated by Margarita Kounnafi

2021

2016

“Mindscapes” 2013 Kypriaki Gonia Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus

Selected Juried & Invited Exhibitions 2019 Group Exhibition

Maison de la Grèce, Paris, France

2019 “Female pros” - 4 Person Exhibition

Municipal Arts Centre Leonidas Canellopoulos, Elefsina, Greece

2019 “Perceptions of Self(ie)” - Group Exhibition Mosesian Centre of the Arts, Boston, USA

2019 “Artifacts 2019” - Group Exhibition

One Art Space Gallery, New York, USA

2018 “International Figurative Biennale” - Group Exhibition John Natsoulas Gallery, California, USA

2018 “The Sea Within” - Group Exhibition

Limassol Municipal Art Centre, Limassol, Cyprus

2018 “Fine Art” - Group Exhibition

Dalton Gallery of Agnes Scott College, Georgia, USA

2017 “SENDING/ RECEIVING” - 3 Person Exhibition General Consulate of Cyprus, New York, USA

2016 “PARADISE” - Group Exhibition

SKOUFA Gallery, Mykonos, Greece

2016 “TO SUM DEGREE`” - Group Exhibition The HUD Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA

2016 Art Takes Manhattan - “Extended Consciousness” - International Juried Competition and Exhibition Caelum Gallery, New York, USA Twenty artists from countries around the world have been selected to be part of this prestigious exhibition in the heart of Manhattan.

2015 Donkey Art Prize 3 - International Juried Competition and Exhibition

Galley 76, 3331 Chiyoda Art Centre, inside the Dubai International Art Center, Dubai, U.A.E. Selected as a finalist by a jury of experts for a group exhibition (catalogue)

2014 Contemporary Painting - Group Exhibition - International Juried Exhibition The Brick Lane Gallery, London, UK

2012 “4÷4” - 4 Person Exhibition

Peter’s Gallery, Limassol, Cyprus

2012 “Europe - Larnaca” - Group Exhibition

Municipal Art Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus (catalogue)

2012 “Witnesses” - 4 Person Exhibition

Kypriaki Gonia Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus

2005 “Mode of Expression” - Group Exhibition

Iliotropio Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus (catalogue)

2004 “Equilibrio” - Group Exhibition

Group Cerchio, Atelier di Pittura, Larnaca, Cyprus

Competitions - Publications 2019 2018 2017

Apero catalogue, March issue, title “Contrast” Winner First Place Cover Artist – Thekla Papadopoulou + Curator’s review + Cash Prize Art Reveal Magazine no.44 , Thekla Papadopoulou interview, December 2018, pages:78- 83, ISBN 9780368032226 https://www.artrevealmagazine.com/44th-issue/ The Painting “Fragments C’II” was selected, after an international competition, to be published in Circle Quarterly Magazine among other 49 upcoming artists to collect.

Memberships Membership of Professional Organisations E.KA.TE The Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts. E.KA.TE is a member of the International Association of Art (IAA) and represents IAA in Cyprus.

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t: +357 99 659202 e: info@the-ogallery.com w: www.the-ogallery.com

Ripple Effect

Articles inside

Conclusion

Processes

The Invisible Line

Forward

Essence

Materiality