NIKOS NAVRIDIS
Tomorrow will be a Wonderful Day

10 April 2008 - 16 May 2008

On Thursday 10 April 2008 the Bernier-Eliades Gallery will host the opening of the second solo exhibition Greek artist Nikos Navridis, entitled: Tomorrow will be a Wonderful Day.

Although particularly well known for the large-scale video installations he has shown over the past few years, with this new work, drawings and an installation in the Gallery space, Navridis returns to the primary value of artistic discourse: the process of drawing.

In this exhibition, Navridis continues the investigation he commenced several years ago, with large groups of drawings on the boundaries and terms set by the act of drawing.

In his new work, the artist investigates the capabilities of drawing by setting questions concerning the medium’s narrative nature.

A sum total of lines, shapes, architectural elements, organic forms, natural motifs, mechanical limbs, in some way unfolds stories that can be followed, even though they may be hard to describe.

The process of working on these pieces juxtaposes and layers various sources and references. It activates memories and follows routes that progress from drawings by Antonio Gaudi to anatomical impressions by Bourgery and Jacob, from early seventies San Francisco psychedelia to the Cybertron Transformers, and to the experimental drawings of “systems in crisis” and artificial the landscapes of Lebbeus Woods.

The results are chaotic, labyrinthine, attractive, redeeming.

As the artist says: For me, these drawings are texts, forms and lines, which as they unfold are linked to what we experience on a daily basis; they are notes on the next story, stage directions so that I can define reality.

The idea to follow a line as that diffuses through life can easily take you forward or backwards. On the other hand, it certainly obliges you to choose and this definitely reflects on who you are.

What someone retains, what they will absorb, and what they will toss out, is a decision for the viewer. Something I seek.

The gallery is open Tuesday to Friday 10:30 - 20:00 and Saturday 12:00 - 16:00.