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| Babis Venetopoulos Daddy, I have had to kill you.| You died before I had time| Marble-heavy, a bag full of God | Ghastly statue with one gray toe | Big as a Frisco seal* Two naked men bump into one another. At first, it’s hard to discern and define their relationship. As this intricate web between them gradually unfolds, something seems to happen, something is about to reveal itself. Something emerges in the same style as the rationale and semantics of consumer product advertising spots, which rotate in order to demonstrate themselves in the best possible way, from every angle and perspective. As the image moves, the relationship between the two men comes to light and is decomposed at the same time. They embrace each other like a complex of Roman sculptures, polished, thanks to their technological texture and nature, while gradually the truth acknowledges its presence. This image depicts the embracing of a father with his son, naked both literally and metaphorically. The son kills his father with a knife. What could this patricide symbolize? Which umbilical cord is the son trying to cut? What kind of power is he trying to shake off? The father figure establishes itself as an inevitable authority, an almost insurmountable one which may never be overcome. This authority is put into question on multiple levels either as a psychological impetus or as the symbol of a given power. The relationship between the father and the son, the ruler and the subject is emotional and family-related with chains that can never be escaped from. The death of the parent serves as the ultimate loss, but probably also as the ultimate liberation. The new is striving to blast any connection to the old and overcome everything that represents the past. This natural parental power, against which any ‘revolution’ is always questioned, is a psychological and ideological mystery that may probably never be solved, an affectionate and at the same time violent mystery. The work presented in this exhibition puts together piece-by-piece an exhaustive digital puzzle, an animation. Specific references and allusions are common in Venetopoulos’ work and it is not the first time that similar components penetrate his works; and he walks circles (dead-ends?) around topics such as disability, pain, family relations and loss as a liberating balance disruption. Daddy, you can lie back now* Areti Leopoulou __________ * The verses cited in excerpts in the text are from Sylvia Plath’s poem “Daddy” (1962)  Download CV |  The Cuddle |
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