Zoumboulakis Galleries present the fourth solo exhibition of Kostas Christopoulos titled "Flashbang" on Thursday, March 16, 2023. The exhibition presents a part of Christopoulos' extended research, including paintings, sculptures, and mixed media works, based on photographic snapshots.

"Flashbang" explores the limits of matter, the relationship with memory, the subjectivity of the gaze, and the embodied presence within the present time. The works focus on the mechanisms of constructing historical memory and, ultimately knowledge, with the aim to question what we typically adopt as self-evident and given. The overlapping references function in a similar way, activating new perspectives of contemplating the familiar. Christopoulos' large-scale canvases delve into the uncharted landscape of politically charged islands of Greece, in dialogue with fragmentary narratives of recent world history, as captured in slogans written on banners.

In his painting, Christopoulos persists to a black and white palette. The tonal scale gives the illusion of digital manipulation. The fluid balance among socio-political tensions, as manifested in mass marches and collective demands, is reflected in the way he lays the oil on canvas, creating a bidirectional relationship between his thematic references and his painterly textures and qualities. Awkward facades of newly constructed buildings that compose the urban reality, inscriptions of petitions and waterless streams in places of exile, trigger a series of connections with contradictory associations.

The materiality of the works intertwines with the political narratives creating a common ground for all the divergent elements of the exhibition. Focusing on the symbolic and material economy, Christopoulos etches the word "justice" on a tin container of olive oil. The apparent natural processes of corrosion and oxidation of the metal stand as a painterly "material" that carries strong narrative power. Images of clashes at demonstrations, coated with a thin layer of wax, evoke memories of ‘flammable’ negotiations, while two wooden, shredded bays of agglomerated parquet revisit issues of neo-Greek narratives.

The exhibition "Flashbang" highlights a universe of signifiers that invoke the viewer's reflexes, leaving room for contemplation on issues concerning the interconnected relationship between landscape and history.

8.3.23 G.L.