Elena Papanikolakis, Then, closer, 5 September–5 October, 2019
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Almost unknown, 2019, acrylic and oil on stretched paper, 41 × 36 cm
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Old ways, 2019, acrylic and oil on stretched paper, 41 × 36 cm
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Shapes and character, 2019, acrylic and oil on stretched paper, 41 × 36 cm
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
Elena Papanikolakis Then, closer, Installation view
Detail from the series Potential 2018, acrylic on paper, framed, nine parts, dimensions variable
, previous, next.

slake

a Byzantine lattice is

daring a honeycomb

over the street below.

 

in its doorway sits

a reservoir faint with turbulence, stained

beneath the surface with oxide.

 

the house turns

inwards, towards

its interior made of salt.

 

and what of its dimensions?

a labyrinth spins

in a pale mineral cup.

time centrifuge, timeplasma.

 

on the hill

a dome turns verdigris

while sitting on four

eyelids slaked with lime.

 

the adult lamb being led by

cries into these cataracts of sound, begging

the architecture for more than a chorus.

 

over brushed metal

food passes between hands

as swiftly as laughter can turn

on the pivot of a dare

 

before the leap

before a fall, to

a conclusion

or looser soils.

 

the shepherd

just turned fourteen

straddles his fresh sacrifice.

 

driving an iron down the foreleg, he

cleaves flesh from fleece, which

he then inflates like a balloon.

 

a gentle flossrip as layers

come apart, and five cuts

set the fleece free.

 

finally

drawn off

and draped, the

garment has no senses.

 

the soil darkens

beneath his labour, to

witness what grows.

 

this leaf, this

branch, this

plant is a migrant also.

 

this stem, this

curlicued ear

houses history, and

is eaten

by those who live

in history’s houses.

 

the plateau

of another faith

extends its dry hem

to a Frey.

 

and the desert turns away

from its beloved

showing the length of its spine

enough to recall them back again

and dare over, again.

—Tarik Ahlip

Tarik Ahlip is an artist with a background in Architecture. His practice is mainly sculptural, informed by an interest in language and poetry.

Biography

Elena Papanikolakis’ practice utilises painting, collage, text, photography, and drawing to explore the abstraction and suggestion of narrative. Informing her works are fragments of characters, events or scenes gathered from archives of personal and found material. Her practice pivots between representation and abstraction and is concerned with exploring the construction and deconstruction of understanding via painted spaces, words, and photo-based imagery.

 

Elena received the Ursula Hoff Institute Award for Postgraduate excellence in Visual Art and Music, as part of the National Works on Paper Prize at Mornington Peninsula Regional Gallery (2018); the Art Gallery of New South Wales Paris Studio, the Eva Breuer Travelling Art Scholarship and NAVA’s NSW Artists’ Grant (2016); and has undertaken numerous residencies including the Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris (2017) and Parramatta Artist Studios, Sydney (2014–2016).

 

Elena’s work has been curated into numerous exhibitions including: Primavera 2017: Young Australian Artists at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, Parramatta Artist Studios at Artspace, Sydney, New Sacred at Mosman Art Gallery, Mosman and Young Moderns at Penrith Regional Gallery, Penrith.

 

Recent exhibitions include: The John Fries Award 2019: There is Fiction in the Spaces Between, curated by Miriam Kelly, UNSW Galleries, Sydney (June, 2019); Light Matter at Australian Centre for Photography, Sydney (August, 2019).

 

Then, closer is Elena’s debut solo exhibition at ReadingRoom.

Exhibition Pamphlet

PAPANIKOLAKIS, ELENA, Then, closer, ReadingRoom, Melbourne, 5 September–5 October, 2019

Further Reading

 

Anastasia Tsirtsakis, Artist Elena Papanikolakis on breaking the mould, and pursuing her passion, Neos Kosmos, 2019

 

Elena Papanikolakis, Artist Profile Magazine, Issue 47, 2019