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| Lillian Lykiardopoulou In Lillian Lykiardopoulou’s works, the unfamiliar classifications, the ambiguity of scales, the paradoxical analogies between words and objects, the playful associations between non-homogeneous components, and the reversal of equivalence create the appropriate conditions in order for us to reappraise our relation to the world. The “Asymmetric Endeavor”, a sculpture from synthetic fabric, clay, color and other materials consists in an “embalmed” gazelle which stands on a piece of lion leather, now used as a carpet; and a picture is placed on the wall, which depicts the gazelle wearing the lion leather triumphantly while posing in front of a marble stadium. Obviously, in this work, the rules of the game are reversed and the hunter becomes the victim. And yet, we come to the viewpoint that at the end of the day both of them are presented in the form of decorative trophies, since they have been chased after by human beings; it is then that any definitions of rule and power start trembling again. Undoubtedly, viewers and their expected moves are always the point of reference in Lykiardopoulou’s work; such moves always seem to be frozen, as if in a state of waiting, even though they are brought about implicitly by the work – game. In “Try Me”, made up of a counter weight to which feathers have been attached, both the image offered to viewers as well as the engaging title overthrow the already existing conventional ways of referring to objects. This executive dimension marking Lykiardopoulou’s work, conjures up images of the ways in which modernity has forged modern myths regarding ‘fetish-like’objects and their images, while the entire work seems to be a miniature of these sense-giving and perceptive practices: the installations remind us of the decoration of a wax figure museum or the shop-window of a store or even the scenery of a strange, perhaps surrealistic film. The artist creates highly structured, paradoxical and heterogeneous worlds, which reform the relations existing among objects and the relation of viewers to words, since the use of oxymora constitutes the main means of access to reality, while, witty wordplay reveals the hidden sequences and the interpretations entailed in it. It would be a mistake to view Lykiardopoulou’s work simply as an imaginative, humorous play with words and objects – without this being taken to denote that it isn’t – or as a simplistic, experiential response to paradoxical instances in the course of daily life – without this being taken to denote that she is not interested in placing an emphasis on daily routines – because the work itself exists rather as an onomatopoeic and philosophical way of viewing our ability to interpret the world. In this regard, lexical equivalence and any attempt to manage the similarities between objects and words provides an incentive for new representations, and at the same time a chance to assign meaning anew, hence reversing the ways in which we were taught to associate words with objects and urging us to restructure our memory. Sotiris Bahtsetzis (an extract from the text written for the solo exhibition Loop Ahead in QBox Gallery, 17/05/08 - 28/06/08)  Download CV |  Assymetric Endeavour |
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