Pink clouds and inflated balloons “hug” hard and spiky cacti and march together. In some cases, third spines pierce these two bodies. Each passer-by is asked to decode the symbolism hidden in all these performances.
At the Art Showcases of OTE, on Karolou Dil Street in the center of Thessaloniki, a new exhibition is being hosted, entitled “Cacti”. These are paintings by Despina Constantinou, placed in a related environment with clouds, balloons, but also real cacti.
“Generally cacti are about human nature and the works are a parallel to it. The cactus has the hardness that appears at first sight, but it also has beauty, first of all externally, but also internally, it is a plant full of juices, just like a human being”, Despina Constantinou tells the Athens/Macedonian News Agency.
“Many times we are seduced by the external appearance, either by beauty or by cruelty, but we all have both sides. And so through this, through the cactus, I am essentially commenting on human nature and the relationships of power, romantic and of any other kind, that individuals have with each other,” adds the artist.
“With references to the poem The Loves of the Plants by the English philosopher, poet and naturalist Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), the compositions of Despina Constantinou introduce us to a peculiar, colorful and alive, plant world, in direct correspondence and overlap with the human, where sexuality holds the leading role. Cacti are transformed into phallic and pubic symbols, the combinations and encounters between them come to convey the impression of direct bodily experience and carnal contact, to critically approach the stereotypical rivalry of the two sexes, to open up the areas of hermaphroditism, bisexuality and fantasies , to capture relationships of power and strength, manipulation, dominance and submission, to allegorically juxtapose their juicy interior with their hard and spiky shell, to convey the rush of desire, the sensuality and tenderness of union, to depict the feelings of pain and of pleasure, violence and pleasure”, states, for his part, the Art Historian Yiannis Bolis, in part of his text that accompanies the exhibition.
Mrs. Konstantinou also underlines the immediacy of the OTE Art Showcases, curated by Yiannis Argyriadis. “It is a living space that takes place in the city. It is something that at least I, as an artist, have not experienced before, because both galleries and museums are closed spaces, which you have to go through the door to enter,” he notes characteristically.
Pink clouds and inflated balloons “hug” hard and spiky cacti and march together. In some cases, third spines pierce these two bodies. Each passer-by is asked to decode the symbolism hidden in all these performances.
At the Art Showcases of OTE, on Karolou Dil Street in the center of Thessaloniki, a new exhibition is being hosted, entitled “Cacti”. These are paintings by Despina Constantinou, placed in a related environment with clouds, balloons, but also real cacti.
“Generally cacti are about human nature and the works are a parallel to it. The cactus has the hardness that appears at first sight, but it also has beauty, first of all externally, but also internally, it is a plant full of juices, just like a human being”, Despina Constantinou tells the Athens/Macedonian News Agency.
“Many times we are seduced by the external appearance, either by beauty or by cruelty, but we all have both sides. And so through this, through the cactus, I am essentially commenting on human nature and the relationships of power, romantic and of any other kind, that individuals have with each other,” adds the artist.
“With references to the poem The Loves of the Plants by the English philosopher, poet and naturalist Erasmus Darwin (1731-1802), the compositions of Despina Constantinou introduce us to a peculiar, colorful and alive, plant world, in direct correspondence and overlap with the human, where sexuality holds the leading role. Cacti are transformed into phallic and pubic symbols, the combinations and encounters between them come to convey the impression of direct bodily experience and carnal contact, to critically approach the stereotypical rivalry of the two sexes, to open up the areas of hermaphroditism, bisexuality and fantasies , to capture relationships of power and strength, manipulation, dominance and submission, to allegorically juxtapose their juicy interior with their hard and spiky shell, to convey the rush of desire, the sensuality and tenderness of union, to depict the feelings of pain and of pleasure, violence and pleasure”, states, for his part, the Art Historian Yiannis Bolis, in part of his text that accompanies the exhibition.
Mrs. Konstantinou also underlines the immediacy of the OTE Art Showcases, curated by Yiannis Argyriadis. “It is a living space that takes place in the city. It is something that at least I, as an artist, have not experienced before, because both galleries and museums are closed spaces, which you have to go through the door to enter,” he notes characteristically.
