Series of digital collages and acrylics on unstretched canvas, textile, 165 x 165 cm and 125 x 165 cm
Series of black and white painted-over collages on A4 paper
Glazed ceramics, foam, 30×110 cm
The Jug Goes to the Well Until It Breaks is a project that deals with VASKOS ambivalent relationship with folk tradition and national history. The figure of the “jug” in its folk connotation as well as in its antiquite glory, is the central reference in their research. VASKOS are playfully queering Greek identity through a series of overpainted black and white collages, ceramics, and mixed material paintings.
The project experiments with the look that comes from outside, with the notion of exoticization of the identity. VASKOS work on a series of engravings called “Mascarade à la grecque” of the 18th century by the French architect and designer Ennemond Alexandre Petitot in which the “Greek style” is depicted, with a satirical approach in a series of disguises made of architectural and decorative elements. The project expands and uses images from traditional and ancient ceramics and especially the jug in its various forms (vase, pitcher, amphora, etc). VASKOS claim collective folk creativity and joy and try to appropriate traditional ways of knowledge and explore how the ancient symbols and forms relate to our body today.
The Jug Goes to the Well Until It Breaks was VASKOS participation at “I heard it from the valleys”, a group exhibition curated by Eva Vaslamatzi, with the support of SAHA Association Istanbul, Stavros Niarchos Foundation SNF and ARTWORKS, 1-30 October 2021, Haus N Athen, Athens, Greece
PRESS
ARTWORKS.GR
“I Heard It From the Valleys” curated by Eva Vaslamatzi [Eng]
05/11/2021 TO VIMA
Memories from our history [gr]
Presentation of the exhibition “I Heard It From the Valleys” with visual work by VASKOS
19/10/2021 ATHINORAMA
Contemporary art has more in common with folklore than we think [gr]
Curator Eva Vaslamatzi interviewed by art critic Despina Zefkili
VASKOS 