The Cycle, 2019
Born in 1966 in Volos. Studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts. His early work consists of interactive installations, which are activated by viewers and explore their subconscious, decoding their fears, desires, or memories in images and sounds. His work explores virtual reality in installation, animation, and painting. In 1997, he was awarded the Benesse Prize for Black Box, his participation in the 47th Venice Biennial. In 2011, his work Body Milk went on view at Guggenheim Bilbao (exhibition: The Luminous Interval). He is associate professor of art and technology, Department of Architecture, University of Thessaly.
The work by Alexandros Psychoulis, professor, University of Volos, is a drawing in red pen on paper. At the top can be seen a photo of Evangelos Averoff in profile; at the bottom, a mountain is depicted. Averoff pours wine from a jug into a cask; below, the wine morphs into a mountain, as if Averoff creates the mountain and the vineyards.
The work titled The Cycle, captivates with its disarming simplicity. Averoff produced the wine and now makes the mountain itself. There is a certain simplicity here, in terms of dimensions, media, and realisation. The result is so successful that it is like a nod to the viewer, who cannot help but smile. Evocative of Averoff’s greatness and contribution to his native region, the artist has come up with a surrealistic, playful image. The Metsovo benefactor, who 60 years ago had the vision to plant the steep slopes of his village with a distinguished French grape, sauvignon cabernet, demonstrated advanced thinking and a keen desire to excel and help his homeland flourish. Psychoulis endows the man with magical powers, since he can make a mountain out of a wine jug. The red image is wine itself. Rich in symbolism, this is an unequivocally fascinating image of both simplicity and humour.
The work was created especially for the group anniversary exhibition “Lands of Creation, A tribute to Metsovo”, which was inaugurated at the E. Averoff Museum in 2019.