40 posters by THEOPSY

Theopsy's long flirt with graffiti and street art started in Paris, in the late 1980s, where he performed together with his friend Andre (monsieur A) a "cat & mouse" pictorial game that marked the beginning of an un-orthodox and more lucid approach to graffiti. In the 1990's, he moved to the Greek islands and realised numerous "eco-friendly graffiti" with the use of ephemeral materials such as white sand and lime. In 2011 he was nominated with the Art in Architecture Australian Award for a 9-floor-high mural in New Acton, Camberra. A permanent piece representative of his latest work in ink, characterized by its breathtaking density in B&W optical and narrative transcriptions in a style often described as post-symbolic and neo-romantic. As the artist himself states, "What interested me was the possibility to travel only with two brushes, get my ink and start "writing", a multi-dimensional story on a huge wall."

In 2012, fascinated by historical continuum and its representation in the media, as well as by the aesthetics of political and social narratives, he started producing posters in a style that resembled the propaganda posters often seen in anarchist areas in the centre of Athens and specifically in the area of Exarchia. The printing houses in that area are quite active, often having to print in the same day anarchist, fascist or liberal material.

rotation proof4 from theopsy on Vimeo.

The show will take place simultaneously in two opposite - if not contradicting venues - in a city that suffers more and more from economical and class segregation.

Stigma Lab: The “Home” for the Greek Graffiti Writers and Street Artists. A basement in the heart of the historical Anarchist area of Exarchia in Athens.

President Hotel: An exhibition in the lobby and ground floor in the majestic President Hotel, marking the “entrance” (coming from the posh northern suburbs) to the centre of the capital.

Theopsy will present a series of 40 posters inspired by modern mythology and social and cultural stereotypes. The same multiple images and archetypes are presented simultaneously as subject to vote, objects of commerce or ideas to go against, enhancing the concept of confusion, the superficiality of choice, the feeling of emergency and risk as well as the wish, but also the incapacity to transcend a social paradigm.

More specifically, in Stigma Lab:

The basement venue will be transformed into a boiling cocoon, hosting an original mural and covered in posters, projected animations and sound effects by the artist. The overall effect will be breeding a sharp but obscure and meaningless message, characteristic of the "chaos" that stigmatizes the beginning of the decade in the effervescent Greek capital.

On the contrary, in President:

The lobby will host the same 50 posters that will be neatly framed, and a 500x340cm artwork (see above) that will work in this space as a flat representation echoing the elements from Stigma.

The dialogue between these two venues, as well the content of the works presented, portray a constant wish to create through art a social bridge between social groups, in a city in turmoil. So, in fact, is it the message that makes the format, or the format that makes the message? Theopsy answers clearly; “I am trying to make some space to breathe here. Now, more than ever, the medium IS the message. I am trying to blow both the format and the message to see what is left for us!”

Opening: Sunday 1st of April 2012 (20.00-01.00) @ Stigma Lab (4 Andrea Metaxa Street, 106 81 Athens, Greece). Duration: April 1st - 27th 2012.

Associates:

Giorgos Lambropoulos (2monochannels.com)

Agathe Moynot (Graphic Design)

Opening Hours

Monday - Saturday 12.00-21.00, Sunday CLOSED