Exhibition
Sydney based artist Yioryios creates organic architectural forms which are grounded in the framework and mentality of painting but realised in the form of sculpture. Working with aluminium and acrylic paints, the artist bends, folds, contorts and manipulates his materials – an almost choreographic and dancerly process which culminates in the creation of works defined by a sense of energy and movement.
Underlying all of Yioryios’ works is a fascination with architecture and the built environment. Each work is an abstract and intuitive response to the architecture of a particular site such as Jorn Utzon’s Sydney Opera House or Harry Seidler’s Australian Embassy in Paris.
In the same way in which Kandinsky would take non-descript and everyday objects such as a ladder and a table as his starting point, drawing inspiration from their lines and contours, and forming in his mind the dynamic and vibrant compositions for which he is now synonymous with; Yioryios’s ever-evolving free-form helixes and spirals draw on the shapes and silhouettes of architecture to create sculptures which are a pure visual response.
Taking these architectural masterpieces as his starting point and inspiration, Yioryios begins by making sculptural ‘sketches’ or marquettes, constructed from torn and cut up photographs of the building or ‘architectural muse’, allowing him to playfully work with form and shape until the final lines of the sculpture emerge. These marquettes are then translated by the artist into aluminium composite, via a process which involves heating the aluminium until it is soft and malleable enough that it can be easily manipulated, after which the final form is painted and articulated with a combination of matte and gloss acrylic paints.
This final act of painting and the sensitive way in which each and every angle, plane and edge is treated, is a step which Yioryios himself considers to be vital. Initially trained as a painter, he sees this process as essential in bringing the work to life. For Yioryios his works are paintings in the round. Three dimensional compositions which draw on line and colour, shadow and light, to create compositions which engage the imagination and encourage the eye to move.
A gestural response to the power of architecture, each work captures the dynamism of the building which inspired it, encouraging the viewer to re-approach familiar architectural gems with a new appreciation, a new eye and a new sense of possibility.
Yioryios is a Sydney based emerging artist whose work explores the boundaries between painting, sculpture and architecture. Graduating from the Australian National University with a Bachelor of Visual Arts with Honours in 2014, Yioryios has since held numerous solo exhibitions and been invited to participate in numerous group exhibitions at spaces such as Artereal Gallery, M16 Artspace and Belconnen Arts Centre. In 2015 he was a finalist in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize. His work was recently featured in Artist Profile magazine. His work is held in significant private collections both in Australia and internationally, and is also included in the collection of the Australian Embassy in Paris.
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