Wednesday 13 November 2019 19:00
Art historian and art critic Denys Zacharopoulos talks with artist Jannis Psychopedis about the latter’s works of the exhibition POETICAL WORKS: Painting Meets Poetry.
The talk revolves around questions at the intersection of poetry and history, posed by the exhibition’s artworks and informed by these lines from Cavafy’s Ithaka:
“Laistrygonians and Cyclops, wild Poseidon – you won’t encounter them unless you bring them along inside your soul, unless your soul sets them up in front of you.”
What lies behind a face? How to read a face at the intersection of the language of painting and the written word? How to decipher a face between history and poetry? How does an image convey the painter’s relationship with the poet’s words, or the poet’s relationship with the historical time, which makes the written word and image either more poignant or more impersonal?
The constant observation of faces pervades Jannis Psychopedis’s body of work – from the nameless person in the street or a photograph to the person that looks familiar, like someone we know. Yet, beyond these images, the artist arrives at faces that remain secret and mysterious, as the poetic word keeps them always at a distance, preventing familiarity.
Thus, the reader, and the painter in the capacity of reader, must look behind the image to discover what keeps a face, even a faded one, alive.
Simultaneous translation into the Greek Sign Language will be provided.
Wednesday 13/11 | 19.00-21.00
Free admission
