‘Is Love Ever Tiring?’ Artist Erietta Vordoni persists with expression
One of the problems with contemporary art is that for many people it appears alienating and hard to understand. While it is true that some knowledge and training are necessary to appreciate the visual arts – perhaps more so than other forms of art, such as theater or film – it is also fair to expect that viewing art is primarily a visual experience and not just an intellectual exertion. On that account, much contemporary art often seems to fail. It is either too conceptual, at times even boring, and sometimes plain ugly. At the other extreme, it sometimes seems overreliant on sensationalism and grand but simplistic statements. Seen against this backdrop, the paintings of artist Erietta Vordoni are pleasantly refreshing for they are both engaging and visually interesting, not in a cerebral, but in a more sensual way. The large-scale, mixed-media canvasses included in Vordoni’s solo exhibition, which is curated by Takis Mavrotas and on view at the Athinais Cultural Complex, are also a skillful handling of some of art’s traditional properties: color, design, texture and material. The title of the exhibition «Is Love Ever Tiring?,» although slightly trite on first hearing, does nonetheless suggest that, despite passing trends both in art and life, certain forms of expression (painting among them), feelings and concepts will always persist and be of significance. Vordoni’s works do not get any more specific than that probably because their underlying idea is to put across a mood rather than to make any clear-cut statement. What creates the mood is the layering and blending of color and materials, the soft hues, the delicate lines depicting the human figure and the transparent effect of her compositions. One gets a vague sense that through layering, Vordoni speaks of the passage of time and of recollections. Layering and mixing different materials – such as wrinkled paper, plexiglass, wax, iridescent color and metal – is Vordoni’s way of painting. It shows her interest in creating contrasts of textures and color but also indicates how drawing, coloring and structuring space grow one from another in an uninterrupted artistic process. Vordoni explains that one leads to the other and she thinks of the final image as growing from within the painting itself. Vordoni has been working in this manner for some time. She also makes sculptures which she has shown thus far in France and Italy and is actually considering a public sculpture project for Athens. Erietta Vordoni’s works are at the Athinais Cultural Complex (34-36 Kastorias, Votanikos, tel 210.348.0000) through December 14.
