PENELOPE & THE CHIOTISSA : On The House

. . . . .

Back

. .

2MB PENELOPE AND THE HIOTISSA jan2022 LIGHT

PENELOPE & THE CHIOTISSA : On The House

Price: SOLD
Art Medium: Acrylic & mixed media on canvas
Size: 61 cm x 61 cm
Year: 2021

Description

PENELOPE AND THE CHIOTISSA: On The House

Penelope the patient, loyal and determined wife of Odysseus. She is joined by a young woman from the island of Chios; the site of a devastating massacre by the Ottomans during the Greek war of independence and the subject of many European paintings.

Both women are youthful and look dignified. They know something of suffering, patience and of the power the sea has: to carry people home and to divide, seduce and betray. Two women, young though worldly, perhaps they do more than just console each other. Something silent and strong passes between them.

There is intimacy, mirroring and an introspection; there is space between but there is no room for others right now: Full House. This is their time to choose, forging a friendship, a bond and maybe even plotting or about to burst into laughter, one of those infectious private jokes that makes it even more transforming, unforgettable.

The Penelope (left) was initially modelled on the female figure in (an English Neoclassical painter) John William Godword’s THE BELVEDERE. The Chiotissa was then intended to be an exact mirror image of her, and painted only after I completed Penelope. The process of copying led to altering some of her features to create her companion, with characteristics of her own. This creative process further cements the deep ties and unexpected relationship between the two iconic women.

This is one of 4 paintings I completed in 2021 as part of my RANDEVOUZ AT THE TAVERN Series. They explore the metaphor of the tavern as a magical meeting place. Similar to the popular invitation: “who from the world stage would you invite to dinner?” through art I take liberty as a painter and storyteller to create space for characters from Greece’s cultural tapestry to come together for the first time, bridging dimensions of folklore, history and mythology.

There is an art to being a good host, bringing friends together who sometimes are strangers with only one person in common. Such meetings create new relationships and opportunities for connection. The art viewer is themselves an additional guest at each table of the ‘Rendezvous at the Tavern’. They are invited into the conversation, free to respond, reflect and interpret perhaps pass judgment on what they see.

The subjects for these paintings are given the opportunity to retell their stories in new ways. These archetypes are both universal and Hellenic, belong to the diasporic collective and are part of my personal inner world.

Artistically I noticed a gradual evolution from an iconic and abstract figurative language to more realistic rendering of the human figure. So too the series and its subject matter is sure to continue and evolve as it has stylistically.

$568,507.00

Categories: Art For Sale, Large Paintings

Contact Efi