- Athanasios Argianas
An Ear Of Arms (around you)
Renata Fabbri is pleased to announce An Ear of Arms (around you), the gallery’s first solo exhibition by the London and Athens based artist and composer Athanasios Argianas. On the occasion, Argianas is presenting a body of new sculptural works conceived specifically for this project and collectively resonating in the exhibition spaces.
Athanasios Argianas’s interdisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, painting, text, performance and music. It is concerned with the physicality of sculpture versus the immateriality of performed lyrics, or language, making immaterial objects from material means and vice versa, and is often informed by his background, and parallel practice, in musical composition.
An Ear Of Arms (around you) hints at an ear that listens in empathy, rather than sound, composed of arms—a hugging gesture, transforming to a communal ear. The exhibition takes shape in various new formats of works: from a tasseled outline of a wild Cichorium weed, cut in steel, to a 3d scan of a Pinna Nobilis—a creature currently facing extinction—and an architectural weave of a scanned Turtle shell, to text etched works that play with the limits of sculpture through layers of representation and reference. A solid brass ribbon is bent to pretend it is supple, soft, etched with text that again opens up another layer of space, that of spoken language, a virtual immaterial objecthood.
Renata Fabbri is pleased to announce An Ear of Arms (around you), the gallery’s first solo exhibition by the London and Athens based artist and composer Athanasios Argianas. On the occasion, Argianas is presenting a body of new sculptural works conceived specifically for this project and collectively resonating in the exhibition spaces.
Athanasios Argianas’s interdisciplinary practice encompasses sculpture, painting, text, performance and music. It is concerned with the physicality of sculpture versus the immateriality of performed lyrics, or language, making immaterial objects from material means and vice versa, and is often informed by his background, and parallel practice, in musical composition.
An Ear Of Arms (around you) hints at an ear that listens in empathy, rather than sound, composed of arms—a hugging gesture, transforming to a communal ear. The exhibition takes shape in various new formats of works: from a tasseled outline of a wild Cichorium weed, cut in steel, to a 3d scan of a Pinna Nobilis—a creature currently facing extinction—and an architectural weave of a scanned Turtle shell, to text etched works that play with the limits of sculpture through layers of representation and reference. A solid brass ribbon is bent to pretend it is supple, soft, etched with text that again opens up another layer of space, that of spoken language, a virtual immaterial objecthood.
Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine (above you / beside you), 2022Oxised aluminium, 63x50x17 cm. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan. Ph. Cosimo Filippini.
Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine (An Ear of Arms), 2022Brass, plaster cast, 100x170 cm. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan. Ph. Cosimo Filippini
Athanasios Argianas, Extinction Harmonics (Pinna), 2022Sand cast aluminium, 90x55 cm. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan. Ph. Cosimo Filippini.
Athanasios Argianas, Extinction Harmonics (Turtle Shell x 2,5), 2022PETG, epoxy rain, polyester, brass fixing, 95x55x5 cm. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan. Ph. Cosimo Filippini.
Athanasios Argianas, Song Machine (taken aback / away and given away), 2022Copper plated aluminium, 66x48x15 cm. Ph. Cosimo Filippini. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan.
Athanasios Argianas, Lateral Waveforms (series), 2022Steel, tassel strings, 125x120 cm. Ph. Cosimo Filippini. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan.
Athanasios Argianas, Lateral Waveforms (series), 2022Steel, tassel strings, 65x70 cm. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan. Ph. Cosimo Filippini.
Athanasios Argianas, Clay Pressing no.11, 2022Acrylic plaster, copper, Bougainvillea leaves, 35x35x15 cm. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan. Ph. Cosimo Filippini.
Athanasios Argianas, Clay Pressing nº 12, 2022Acrylic plaster, copper, Bougainvillea leaves, 35x35x15 cm. Courtesy the artist and Renata Fabbri, Milan. Ph. Cosimo Filippini.
Athanasios Argianas (Athens, 1976) lives and works between Athens and London.
Rooted primarily in sculpture, and spanning painting, text, performance and music, his artistic practice is open, interdisciplinary and deeply influenced by a background in music.
His work operates in a realm between affect and methodology.
Interested in how a song or written language can physically occupy physical space, or how a natural form can generate a piece of music, he looks into the physicality of sculpture as opposed to the immateriality of music and language; often employing arbitrary, invented systems of subjective translations.
Hollowed Water, his first major solo show in a public institution in the UK, was on view at Camden Art Centre, London, in 2020, and toured to ARCH, Athens in 2021. He has held solo exhibitions at Renata Fabbri, Milan (2021–22); On Stellar Rays, New York (2017, 2015, 2013); Aanant & Zoo, Berlin (2015, 2013); Max Wigram Gallery London (2011, 2009, 2007); The Breeder, Athens (2011, 2007); and Arcade (with Len Lye), London (2008), amongst others.
Selected gallery group shows include Madragoa, Lisbon (2022); Lisson Gallery, London (2016); Mor Charpentier, Paris (2011); RODEO, Istanbul (2011); and Grimm, Amsterdam (2010).
In 2012 His work was presented at the 30th São Paulo Biennial, at Documenta 14, Fridericianum, Kassel (2017); Kunsthalle Wien (2016); Fondazione Prada, Ca Corner della Regina, Venice, (2014); Performa 13, New York (2013); Tate Britain, London Art Now Live (2011), Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London and The Barcican Art Gallery (2008)
Species Counterpoint, a monograph on his work was co-published in 2021 by Lenz, Milan, with Camden Art Centre, London, and ARCH, Athens with essays by Dan Fox, Quinn Latimer, Jennifer Kabat and an interview with the artist and Martin Herbert.
He releases music with the Lo Recordings label in London (under his own name and the moniker Gavouna) and runs Daedalus Street with Rowena Hughes, a project facilitating the development of new artworks by invited artists in their studio in Athens.
Athanasios Argianas (Athens, 1976) lives and works between Athens and London.
Rooted primarily in sculpture, and spanning painting, text, performance and music, his artistic practice is open, interdisciplinary and deeply influenced by a background in music.
His work operates in a realm between affect and methodology.
Interested in how a song or written language can physically occupy physical space, or how a natural form can generate a piece of music, he looks into the physicality of sculpture as opposed to the immateriality of music and language; often employing arbitrary, invented systems of subjective translations.
Hollowed Water, his first major solo show in a public institution in the UK, was on view at Camden Art Centre, London, in 2020, and toured to ARCH, Athens in 2021. He has held solo exhibitions at Renata Fabbri, Milan (2021–22); On Stellar Rays, New York (2017, 2015, 2013); Aanant & Zoo, Berlin (2015, 2013); Max Wigram Gallery London (2011, 2009, 2007); The Breeder, Athens (2011, 2007); and Arcade (with Len Lye), London (2008), amongst others.
Selected gallery group shows include Madragoa, Lisbon (2022); Lisson Gallery, London (2016); Mor Charpentier, Paris (2011); RODEO, Istanbul (2011); and Grimm, Amsterdam (2010).
In 2012 His work was presented at the 30th São Paulo Biennial, at Documenta 14, Fridericianum, Kassel (2017); Kunsthalle Wien (2016); Fondazione Prada, Ca Corner della Regina, Venice, (2014); Performa 13, New York (2013); Tate Britain, London Art Now Live (2011), Serpentine Gallery Pavilion, London and The Barcican Art Gallery (2008)
Species Counterpoint, a monograph on his work was co-published in 2021 by Lenz, Milan, with Camden Art Centre, London, and ARCH, Athens with essays by Dan Fox, Quinn Latimer, Jennifer Kabat and an interview with the artist and Martin Herbert.
He releases music with the Lo Recordings label in London (under his own name and the moniker Gavouna) and runs Daedalus Street with Rowena Hughes, a project facilitating the development of new artworks by invited artists in their studio in Athens.
- Tim Etchells,
- Vlatka Horvat
- Edoardo Manzoni
- Ana Cardoso,
- Athanasios Argianas
Apr 14-16, 2023
VIP Preview Apr 13th
Established
Pav.3 – Booth 7
- Athanasios Argianas
Dec 10, 2022 – Mar 12, 2023
Kunstpalais Erlangen
- Tim Etchells
La Triennale, Milan
Mar 30 – Apr 2, 2023
Created by Tim Etchells and Ant Hampton
- Serena Vestrucci
Palazzo Merulana, Rome
Mar 25 – May 21, 2023
Curated by Joanna De Vos and Melania Rossi
