(GR) ΕΛΕΥΘΕΡΟΤΥΠΙΑ
18 Οκτωβρίου 1988
Μαρία Μαραγκού
Δροσερή, γηραιά γεωμετρία
Στα δείγματα δουλειά των καλλιτεχνών που αναιρούν τα αξιώματα περί πεπερασμένων και πεπαλαιωμένων ρευμάτων και τρόπων επεξεργασίας, χωρίς και την πρόθεση να τα ανασύρουν από το παρελθόν για να τους προσδώσου νέα πνοή, εντάσσεται η έρευνα της Ειρήνης Απέργη (γκαλερί Μέδουσα).
Η καλλιτέχνης, καταλήγει στη γηραιά γεωμετρική φόρμα, την οποία διαχειρίζεται μέσα από δρόμους ευρηματικούς και ευαίσθητους, αποδίδοντας ένα φρέσκο, από πλευράς ηλικίας, αποτέλεσμα.
Ξύλινες φόρμες, ολοκληρωμένα τριγωνικά σχήματα, ζωγραφισμένα κατ΄ ευθείαν, επικαλύπτονται από ζωγραφισμένη γάζα, που ενέχει μια διττή ιδεολογική και αισθητική σημασία. Η ανάπτυξη στο χώρο είναι τρισδιάστατη και ερευνά τη δυνατότητα της παράθεσης της εικόνας επί της εικόνας. Δηλαδή η ίδια η σχηματοποιημένη ξύλινη φόρμα, αντικείμενο διανοητικής επεξεργασίας και συγκεκριμένης επέμβασης, επιδέχεται το επίστρωμα της γάζας, της κόλλας και των χρωμάτων, που με αργούς μελετημένους ρυθμούς αναδημιουργεί τη δεύτερη «εικόνα», χωρίς να καταστρέφει την ήδη υπάρχουσα.
Η αντίφαση η οποία ενυπάρχει, ανάμεσα στη νοητική επέμβαση και το εκφρασμένο συναίσθημα, συγκλίνει στην αισθητική και ιδεολογική επιλογή της Ειρήνης Απέργη.
Τα συμπαντικά και φυσικά φαινόμενα (που τόσο συγγενεύουν με τα ενδοανθρώπινα) που υπαινίσσεται θεματικά η καλλιτέχνης για την προσέγγιση του αγνώστου, επιτυγχάνονται μέσα από διόδους της οικείας αγωνίας.
Οι δραματικές πτυχώσεις της ύλης, εξελίσσονται εικαστικά στο ράθυμο ποταμό των χρωμάτων, σύμβολα αφοσίωσης στο έργο.
Η Ειρήνη Απέργη, που τα τελευταία χρόνια προχωρεί ήρεμα και σοφά στην ολοκλήρωση των οραμάτων της, σε αυτή την τωρινή της έκθεση επεφύλαξε μια έκπληξη σε όσους την παρακολουθούν. Τα βήματα έγιναν άλματα.
ΚΑΘΗΜΕΡΙΝΗ
23 Οκτωβρίου 1988
Ντόρα Ηλιοπούλου Ρογκάν
Ανανεωμένη και ιδιαίτερα ώριμη παρουσιάζεται η δουλειά της Ειρήνης Απέργη στην «Μέδουσα». Οι συνθέσεις της έχουν αποβάλει ολότελα κάθε διακοσμητικό στοιχείο, υποβάλλοντας με πολλούς τρόπους και όσο πιο ελεύθερα γίνεται τον θεατή. Οι δημιουργίες της Απέργη χαρακτηρίζονται από με έντονη ζωγραφικότητα: γνώρισμα που δεν διέκρινε τις πρότερες γεωμετρικές συνθέσεις της. Είναι έργα που σίγουρα επισημαίνουν και αποκαλύπτουν στοιχεία πολύ διαφορετικά από τα όσα γνωρίσαμε σε παλαιότερη δουλειά της καλλιτέχνιδος. Πρόκειται για συνθέσεις φιλοτεχνημένες με μικτή τεχνική και ειδικότερα από τουλπάνι και ξύλο – που ενώ είναι επίτοιχες κατακτούν τον γύρω χώρο, υποβάλλοντας τα μηνύματά τους στον θεατή.
Συνθέσεις φιλοτεχνημένες με μια εξαιρετικά αίσθηση πλαστικότητας και συνάμα με μια μεγάλη χρωματική ευαισθησία συνεπαίρνουν με τον «αέρα» που τις χαρακτηρίζει όχι μόνο την οπτική μας αντίληψη αλλά και τον ψυχικό μας κόσμο. Προβάλλοντας κάτι το ουσιαστικό από τη θωριά μιας αρχαίας Νίκης ή των πτυχώσεων μιας Κόρης, μετουσιώνουν σε υποβλητικές χρωματικές αρμονίες αυτά τα ερεθίσματα. Και εξαιτίας, ακριβώς αυτής της δημιουργικής μεταλλαγής προκαλούν εντυπώσεις ανθεκτικές στο χρόνο για τον θεατή. Πράγματι, η δουλειά της Ειρήνης Απέργη είναι πρωτότυπη, εμπνευσμένη και υποβλητική
FISSURES 1988
Elzbieta Koscielak
When I first saw the works of Irene Apergis, what struck me most was the presence of space in the image, in the physical and metaphysical sense of the word space. Ever since her first acrylics from the series “Windows in memory”, she presents the start of a journey to lands unknown, to the spaces that materialize in the moments of creation.
Following the artistic approach or Apergi and her relationship with space, we observe that she does not study space but senses it, and she creates it on this basis in her work. Many times the geometrical elements in her work impel us to look for relationships in the tendencies of the meaningful art of our century, because I have the impression that logic and geometry alone do not represent all aspects of Apergi’s work. Already in her initial artistic proposals there was a kind of mysticism, that assuaged the severity of the geometric forms, which were but a pretext to create mystical dimensions. Behind every form in the image hides the n-dimensions of infinity, the forms function like living elements: they move, take on the characteristics of volume, in order to finally emerge from the space of the picture into the real three-dimensional world.
This course is put into effect gradually, the object is freed from the narrow possibilities of the two-dimensional space of painting, initially takes the form of the sculptured “River”, afterwards of a three – dimensional composition “Fall”, in order to reach the expressive means of the environment “Sky”, Apergi creates from a morphological and expressive viewpoint, an integrated organization of internal and external space. In the previous stages of her creative process, the elements of the picture looked for ways to emerge into external space. “Sky” closes this period and initiates the opposite course: the journey into the internal space “Fissures” open the way to the depths of the image. The artist creates again spaces, but this time they are not mystical. They are spaces of cosmogony – of simultaneous destruction and creation.
In the analysis of work of art, we refer to three kinds of spaces, which relate directly with the existence of the work. There are the Space in the Work, the Space of the Work, and the Space for the Work. These spaces exist on different ontological levels and their functional degree in the structure of the work is different and depends on the choice of the artist. The Space in the Work is created through the presence of real space on the surface of the canvas. The phenomenon of rendering three or four dimensions in two has always preoccupied artists, and for this reason they used different formalistic means: various kinds of perspective, the function of light and color. The subject Space in the Work is not so simple. Another level of reality is defined from an ontological viewpoint, which obtains its hypostasis from the creative energy of the artist. This new world, we may call it symbolic, has its own independent matter, space and time.
Aside from the morphological means and the concept of the work, this symbolic space is also structured out of the objective content of the image. It should be stressed here that both spaces, the real (formalistic) and the symbolic one are connected and interdependent. The Space for the Work is obvious because the work is a part of the physical space in which it is placed. The characteristics of this space free the potential elements of the structure of the work. Thus, the work of art forms relationships not only with the physical space, but also with other works of art and their spaces, with the viewer, etc. All the prementioned spaces come together in the work, that is to say, basically we always speak of one SPACE in the work in its different aspects, the morphological, symbolic and the real one.
Apergi’s creation refers to all three forms of this space. Her last work entitled “Fissures” is the best rendering of this orientation. The developing internal structure of the composition creates the illusion of universal space. Besides, what is space? Is it only this empirical phenomenon that we know by seeing everyday all the three – dimensional objects and the distances between them?
After the discoveries of Einstein, space or mor precisely the time – space continuum, appears not only as a vacuum but also as a phenomenon full of astonishing peculiarities: masses that bend it, wondering vibrations, the realm of the past and the future and of the always inaccessible present. In this time – space continuum, space and movement complete each other. Exactly this kind of space one finds in “Fissures”, like the presentation of real space which simultaneously becomes a proposal for an independent space of the work, where material and color create another level of existence in the world of art. In this case, the wooden panels with colored carvings, like the remnants of a Renaissance fresco, surround the viewer who enters the symbolic space of the work, while simultaneously he finds himself also in the real one. Is it possible after what has been said to recall in our memory the works of the Renaissance?
Nevertheless, “Fissures” bring to my mind the climate of the works of that period, their morphological means – the use and role of color – and their symbolic expression. After the centuries of scientific discoveries, after the change of the three – dimensional space of central perspective in universal time – space, the nature of man remains the same. Just like the artist of that period, the contemporary creator is divided between contrasts: creation and destruction, life and death, logic and feeling, want and propriety. “Fissures” open before us the space of cosmogony, the time – space at the end of the 20th century, but also the symbolic space of the chaos of the human soul, where the rational meets the irrational and good meets evil. Enriched by original expressive means which Apergi uses for the first time, her works take on another form and dimension.
From the previous stages remain only the geometric outlines of the forms like an external classification, because this time the artist breaks the austere nature and logic of geometry and fills it with feelings. She projects the symbolic space of the picture using rich colors and pictorial means. She draws the levels, the masses and the swirls with intensity and plasticity with the help of the morphological possibility of relief work – cloth on wood – and of lively colors. At the same time, the background appropriately worked is identified with the completes the basic composition of the work, while the white surface on which the totality and expressiveness. This kind of expression bears no relationship to the neoexpressionism of the last years. Apergi’s expressionism is wise and calm. It is the knowledge of the creator who knows that out of the chaos of man’s soul, nature and fortune create the logic of existence.
This environmental proposal is a result and continuation of the previous phases of the artist’s work. It is as if it passes through the window frames in order to enter the light of the rainbow, in order to discover the original features of the initial structure. Her originality is due to the intuition of the artist, her capacity to diminish the boundaries of real and symbolic space of the work of art, in the harmony of logical and emotional elements in the artistic object, and in the balance between chaos and order. Although there are no mental elements in their pure forms in “Fissures”, Apergi’s work belongs in the realm of mental art, where intellect and thought border on emotion and expression.
