The ATHENS PRINTMAKING ART CENTER-PANDOLFINI & SIATERLI C.N.P.P. invites you to the solo printmaking exhibition “Mindscapes” of Thalia Vasiliou at ETCH INK art space from 27 May until 11 June 2022. Thalia Vasiliou’s work deals with familiar themes as well as abstract compositions through an ongoing process of experimentation with her materials. In her monotypes, the artist explores the unexpected results and variations that occur from direct transfer of objects onto the printing plate, a randomness which is integral part of printmaking. In her compositions she integrates various elements that blur the line between reality and fantasy, recalling dreams and fragmented memory, reflecting an almost existential quest.

Michalis Arfaras introduces Vasiliou as a "purely European artist": "The history of the Imaginary consists of significant artists who dared to challenge the conventions of their time, investing on originality, distinctiveness and experimentation. Thalia Vasiliou is one of them. In times of political, financial and cultural instability, Symbolic and Imaginary Art rise as a creative response to the present and a means to reflect on and depict the intangible future."

According to the art historian Stella Sofocleous: “Vasiliou rediscovers the artistic frame and commits herself to the invention of a new perspective through new materials by intervening creatively in her monotypes. Monotype is a process that balances between painting and printmaking, allowing experimentation and variation.  The unexpected results in the compositions arise from the lack of control during printing with the fluidity of the ink - or the absence of it - in drawing the content.[…]What is predominant in Vasiliou's visual idiom is the attempt to blur the line between reality and fantasy. Through an open-ended procedure, the artist creates an existential work, experimental and instinctive. The viewer is confronted with a recognizable world, although it is represented with a particular visual vocabulary. The compositions give the impression of being in a dream or recalling a memory operating as an existential quest and resolving the contradiction between the imaginary and the physical.[…] An original art that has embraced various characteristics of the 20th-century avant-garde: From romanticism and symbolism the emphasis on emotions, sentiments, and subjectivity with the dreamlike variation of the landscape; from surrealism, the irrational representation of different features; from cubism, the use of sharp, geometric shapes. Vasiliou creates her personal alphabet with a nostalgic mood, with her compositions functioning as quasi linguistic metaphors with various interpretations.

Thalia Vasiliou was born in Nicosia in 1996.  She lives and works in Cyprus. She graduated from the 2nd Studio of Printmaking of professor Michael Arfaras in the Athens School of Fine Art, in October of 2020. She has participated in exhibitions such as "Homage to Yiannis Ritsos" in 2017, “Luv n’ Art” at Luv n’ Roll studio in 2018, "Projects 2017-2019" at Christian and Byzantine Museum of Athens in 2019, and "Herbarium" at Athens Printmaking Art Centre in 2020.

*In accordance with the health authorities’ regulations all visitors must wear a protective mask and all measures against Covid-19 will be applied.