I grew up in Greece, a country on the line between the perceived East and West, where the distant past, present and desired future coexist; so seeing things through a prism of constant symbiosis became a norm early on. As an immigrant, female artist living and working in the United States, I find myself at times caught in the dichotomy that is created by opposing values. I find humble, anti-monumental gestures and giving value to the minor and otherwise neglected of immense importance.

In my practice I create constellations of humble gestures that call for close examination. I ascribe value to the neglected, which becomes of great significance. Marks of performative actions and leftover traces become part of my spatial vocabulary, in which the marking of time is revealed.

I am interested in the way that we navigate and perceive our environments; today and in the past. Thus my work engages with the memory of place from the point of origin to the present. This manifests as reconstructions of sites and objects of personal significance.

I am constantly challenging the potential of my materials in order to create a variation of frequencies and movement within physical and mental space. I look at the point where sculpture touches painterly nuances as an unfolding sketchbook of our everyday reality in physical space. To me, the concept, the materials, along with the color that will activate the works and their surroundings are of equal importance.

I work in the intersection of sculpture, installation, everyday performativity, text, sound and film. I use basic sculptural materials like clay, wood, plaster, found and custom-made objects juxtaposed with everyday ephemera like paper, dust, and metal rods. I am particularly fascinated with clay as a natural malleable material that carries time in its essence and one that connects me with the history of my country.

My references abound: they range from greek archeological excavation sites, construction sites, google photos, personal places, DIY YouTube videos, and literature, in particular the magical realism of Mikhail Bulgakov, and Jorge Luis Borges.

EDUCATION

2012

MFA in Visual Arts, Columbia University, New York, US

2005

BFA, Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens, GR

2003

Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, London, UK

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019

Away is Another Way of Saying Here, Essex Flowers, New York, NY

2018

Reflections, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta

2016

The . beneath white – Wiener Art Foundation / fAN Kunstverein, artfoundation.at Vienna, Austria

2011

Conceptual Romantic, CONDUITS (IT), ReMap3, Athens, Greece

2008

Wittingly Sparkling, Greedy Dimples, Breeder, Athens

2007

Echoes Prelude, Side 2, Tokyo

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

(* denotes a catalogue publication)

2019

Room for Failure, curated by Omar Lopez-Chahoud, Piero Atchugarry Gallery, Miami, FL Cosmology / Asthenia zine #O7, organized & edited by Amalia Vekri, Antonín Jirát, and Alexios Papazacharias, City Surfer Office,  Prague, Czech Republic *

2018

When You Were Bloom, Thierry Goldberg Gallery, New York, NY

Tomorrow’s Dreams, curated by Daily Lazy, Neuer Essener Kunstverein, Essen, Germany

Selections 2018, curated by Larry Ossei-Mensah, Elizabeth Dee Gallery, New York, NY

2017

.connecting., Practice, New York    (two person show with João Vasco Paiva)

Scraggly Beard Grandpa, curated by Cici Wu, Capsule Shanghai, Shanghai *

Imperceptible, curated by Xavier Acarín, Abrons Art Center, NYC

Good Weather presents: The Best Is The Least We Can Do, Atlanta Contemporary, Atlanta

Where Do We Stand? Two Years of Drawing with Open Sessions, curated by Lisa Sigal and Nova Benway, The Drawing Center, New York *

Car Service II, curated by Danai Giannoglou and Vasilis Papageorgiou, Enterprise Projects, Athens

Marginalia, curated by Lisa Sigal and Nova Benway, The Drawing Center, New York

*bang! Daily Lazy Projects, Athens

2016

The Equilibrists, curated by Gary Carrion-Murayari and Helga Christoffersen with Massimiliano Gioni, organized by the New Museum, New York and the DESTE Foundation, Athens in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, Athens*

BiBeLot, curated by Dimitrios Antonitsis, Hydra School Projects, Hydra, Greece*

Leisure as a Mechanism for Resistance,curated by Daily Lazy, Wiener Art Foundation / fAN Kunstverein, Parallel, Vienna

Frida Smoked. Invisible Exports, New York

The Others, curated by Baseera Khan, 56 Bogart, pop-up show, Brooklyn, NY

Strategies in the Geometry of Homecoming, Torrance Shipman Gallery, Brooklyn, NY (curatorial)

AWARDS

2018 /17 /14

Rema Hort Mann Foundation Grant Nominee, New York

2014

HYAM-Young Mediterranean Artistic Scene Prize, Paris (shortlisted)

2011

The DESTE Prize  (shortlisted)

2010-11

The Fulbright Grant

2010-12

Joan Sovern Sculpture Award, Columbia University

2010-12

The Emily Fisher Landau Fellowship Fund, Columbia University, New York, NY

RESIDENCIES

2019

BEMIS Center for Contemporary Art, Omaha, NE

2018

The Fountainhead Residency, Miami, FL

2016&17

Open Sessions, The Drawing Center, New York, NY

2015-16

Workspace Program, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, New York, NY

2015

International Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg, Austria

(course with Raimundas Malaŝauskas)

2014

Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan ME

2012

The Watermill Center, New York;

and Norwegian Theater Academy, Fredrikstad, Norway

2009

AZB Sculpture Guest-atelier, Zurich, Switzerland

RECENT PRESS MENTIONS

2018

Time Out New York: When You Were Bloom, Thierry Goldberg Gallery by Howard Halle

Daily Lazy: Irini Miga at Atlanta Contemporary

BLOUIN ARTINFO, Larry Ossei-Mensah’s ‘Selections’ at Elizabeth Dee, New York

2017

Artforum, Critics’ pick, Shanghai, “Scraggly Beard Grandpa” CAPSULE SHANGHAI, by Todd Meyers

Flash Art, Outside ART021 and West Bund / Shanghai Art Week, by Alvin Jiahuan Li

The Huffington Post: Your Guide to Navigating Athens’ Art Scene, Beyond documenta 14 by Natalie Hegert

2016

Ocula: The Equilibrists: A report from Greece by Stephanie Bailey

Artforum Diary: Crab Walk by Linda Yablonsky

Blouin ARTinfo: In Athens, a Debt Crisis Edition of the New Museum’s Triennial by Rachel Corbett

Daily Lazy: The Equilibrists organized by the New Museum, New York and the DESTE Foundation, Athens in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, Athens / Athens

Daily Lazy: Irini Miga at Wiener Art Foundation / Vienna

Huffington Post: Six Women Artists Celebrate The Power Of The Cigarette by Priscilla Frank

Time Out New York: Frida Smoked by Howard Halle

The Creators Project: Six Female Artists Consider the Cigarette by Ysabelle Cheung

ARTnews: Opening: “Frida Smoked” at Invisible-Exports by the editors of ARTnews

Milk: Can smoking be a feminist act? by Jocelyn Silver

Daily Lazy: Frida Smoked. at Invisible-Exports / New York

Art F City: Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em: “Frida Smoked” at Invisible-Exports by Emily Colucci

2015

Huffington Post, Ten Badass Emerging Female artist you should know, by Priscilla Frank