Elysian Plains by Panayiotis Pasantas
at the Athens Art Gallery.
Pasantas' minimalist, off-white clay figurines are inspired by the prehistoric and the archaic sculptures of Cypriot votive offerings. In those ancient Greek and ancestral votive offerings, the inhabitants of rural areas sculpted miniature sets of figurines which were influenced by their everyday lives in order to entrust their protection to the gods. Moreover, their offerings were also intended for use by their loved ones, as they believed in the afterlife.
The Elysian Plains, or the Island of the Blessed, as Paradise was referred to in antiquity, is transformed by the work of this artist to a theatrical stage where his figurines portray the very actors who reflect life and the afterlife. The sculptor indirectly refers to Orphic beliefs where the world emerged 'from the unseen to the visible', through 'Phanes' or the 'Orphic Egg' that is the 'Cosmic Egg'. In this work Pasantas is revealing his inner self by breaking the shell of his own 'egg', in a narrative that is influenced by his ancestral roots and stories. Some of humanity's universal issues relating to the living and those who are on their way to the 'Elysian Plains' are therefore depicted in those sculptures. They are exquisite.
Hope
Breaking Through
looking closer
Connected
looking closer
Incubation
Mirage
Ejection
looking closer
Anima Corda
Welcoming
Parting
Strife
Hatch
Offspring
Trapped
Comforter
Indicator
Death
These are stunning! I love them! Thank you so much for taking such close-up pix.
ReplyDeleteOlga, I wish I could have afforded to buy one.
DeleteThey are truly exquisite...perhaps I could cheat and make you a copy, saying it was "influenced by..." since it won't be anywhere near so wonderful as these! Or I'll make you the "egg" and you can make the figure(s) to go inside.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Avril. I would love one. And if you made the egg a bit like the pots you made at the Lanch all those years ago, then it would be a truly Avril piece (just an idea). I hope the figure(s) will be included, as unfortunately, I can't go anywhere near clay. I am quite excited now.
DeleteI will give it a go, we’ll see what happens. It may not end up looking like these and that may be a good thing but I will use raw unglazed clay and see what happens. I only have Asraf Hanna clay at the moment and it is a bit whiter than the earthenware used here but that will be interesting too.
DeleteLooking forward to it, Avril.
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