eleanaantonaki.com
"Irthame!, Study for the Structure of the Presentation of a Place," 2016, Installation view
"Irthame!," 2016, Oil on linen, 86x60 in., (Installation detail)
"Study for the Structure of a Presentation of a Place," 2016, Craft paper, mdf panels, plaster, postcards, masking tape, Dimensions variable, (Installation detail)
"Study for the Structure of the Presentation of a Place," 2016, Craft paper, mdf panels, plaster, postcards, masking tape, (Detail)
"Uncanny Gardening," 2016, Gesso and pencil on wood panel, 24x36 in.
"Uncanny Gardening," 2016, Gesso and pencil on wood panel, 24x36 in.
"Uncanny Gardening," 2016, Gesso and pencil on wood panel, 24x36 in.
"Uncanny Gardening," 2016, Gesso and pencil on wood panel, 24x36 in.
"Uncanny Gardening," 2016, Gesso and pencil on wood panel, 24x36 in.
Artist StatementI work with a variety of media such as drawing, sculpture and painting to construct installations where I investigate the ways that narration can be constructed through fragmented representational elements. The concerns of my work stem from the politics of representational practices in connection to national identity, historical trauma and displacement. The work takes a critical position towards the history and tradition of representation and consists of objects whose reflexivity and agency expand beyond the two dimensional surface and into the installation. I am interested in how the history of a nation is written by employing myths and institutional representations that aim to evoke a sense of unity and homogeneity despite the actual complexity of national narrative. My practice considers the extent to which representation can succeed in raising concerns around these issues and what its failure to do so generates. I consider these moments of failure of representation to be particularly important; I consider them to be the ones that are able to generate meaning around aspects of history by revealing the moments of uncertainty and precariousness that informed 20th century.
Eleana Antonaki is a New York based artist.Recent group exhibitions include the BP Portrait Awards, Ulster Museum, Belfast, UK (2016), Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh, UK (2016), National Portrait Gallery, London, UK (2015), Performing Likeness, TCU, TX, (2015), 4th Thessaloniki Biennale, State Museum of Contemporary Art, Gr (2014). She received the BP Young Artist Award from the National Portrait Gallery of London in 2015 and a Grant from The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation in 2014. She has also been a resident artist at Dynamo Pro-ject Space, Gr and State Museum of Contemporary Art, Gr.