ALEXI TSIORIS | new works

We are pleased to announce Alexi Tsioris’ first solo show in Switzerland.

The Athens-born, Munich-based artist has been fascinated by the act of drawing as long as he can remember. In every one of his works, one senses the significance of the line within his oeuvre. Despite of the multitude of marks and forms coexisting in Tsioris’ works, gentle linear structures maintain a clear focus and concentration. Every line and symbol finds its place and keeps the balance with the other elements on the canvas, paper, or in the three- dimensional space. Alexi Tsioris finds endless inspiration in the earliest forms of artistic expression. Here, time-less elements and signs such as archaic mark-making in pre-historic caves come to mind.

For our exhibition, Tsioris produced a new series of works on canvas, paper, and two bronze and aluminum sculptures. Inspired by a visit to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, where the artist discovered Cranach the Elder’s depictions of princesses and goddesses, the idea of the early pin-up found its way into these new paintings. Akin to processes applied in printmaking and carved sculpture, Tsioris’ paintings are created in a reductive manner. His figures and motifs are hidden behind a layer of paint – they are only unveiled after the surface is carefully engraved, revealing traces of earlier paintings. The artist transfers the unseen to be visible, often referring to the original meaning of the Greek word «apocalypse», which translates into “revealing or unveiling”.

This concept is also ever present in Tsioris’ monotypes on Japan paper. Here he draws on the verso of the sheet, which is pressed against a printing plate. The paper picks up the pigment where the artist applies the line, so the final composition is only revealed once the work is completed and turned over to face the artist.

Two new sculptures executed in aluminum and bronze complete the exhibition. In both, lines seem to be drawn and floating in space, only counterbalanced by condensed material shaped by the imprint of the artist’s hand. Once again, the artist finds his roots in line-drawing and the transfer between the permanent and impermanent.