Aftermath: A Year of Desire at RedD Gallery
Aftermath: A Year of Desire, comprised of eight established artists from across Europe and beyond, is a provocative inquiry into desire and its many forms on view at the RedD Gallery in Chania.
After more than a year defined by uncertainty, restriction and loss, our desires have taken on a new imperative resonance; no longer are they whimsical pursuits, but crucial components of the lives we seek to rebuild and reimagine. Whether through the corporeal urgency of Hedley Roberts’ intertwined silhouettes or the powerful use of language in Clemence Vazard’s mirror series, witnessing these manifold explorations of desire prompts us to confront what it is that we want from our lives and for our world.
Berlin -based artist Aline Alagem characterises the female form against a landscape reminiscent of Crete, with airbrushed figures laying before the ocean and the mountains. The image is hyper-defined yet manipulated and fragmented, collapsing the real and the imagined and depicting the illusion of unattainable body shapes — and the delusion of perfection itself. Capturing desire in its most carnal manifestation is her sculpture of a donut reflected in a mirrored puddle, drawing viewers close only for them to catch a glimpse of themselves in the midst of desire, perhaps longing for the aftermath of satisfaction.
Dimitri Likissas, a Greek Belgian artist based in Spetses, constructs figurative work from patterns of dots. Before our eyes the pictographic arrangement comes to life: a woman swimming underwater emerges in the spots that undulate and combine like particles tumbling over each other in the atmosphere. His wish is to take observers on imaginary journeys as they unravel the optical effects of his paintings and his dexterous use of colour, channeling desire in both his subjects and the pleasure of discerning them. If peace is found in simplicity and slowness, desire need not always be additive. Sydney-based Greek artist George Raftopoulos’s painting, “He Who Walks Alone”, encapsulates the tranquility of solitude amidst a world flurrying with activity. His paintings embody a search for history and identity, illustrating modern visual fables and moral lessons on the human condition. The sense of catharsis is tangible, suggesting that for some, a renewed sense of self during the pandemic has birthed a desire to forge a new path alone.
The sketches of Andrea Tyrimos are similarly meditative in their uncomplicatedness, compared to her recent series of arresting portraits accompanied by audio recordings of subjects discussing their experiences with mental health. Her compositions appear draft-like as pencil sketches, but are in fact complete — after all, true desire for another soul is never really about the accoutrements of appearances. Working too in linear forms is Danny Augustine, who chronicles his desires through printmaking. His series, Clasped Moments, is an abstract, gestural record of private memories that are forever imprinted in his memory. Augustine shares them with the viewer as a reminder of the moments they hold dear. And for those whose post-pandemic inclinations involve less stimulation, Danish artist Thorbjørn Bechmann’s mesmerising colour fields offer a sensory respite, magnifying our desire for the therapeutic effects of beauty without complexity. The liminal spaces he has created speak to our impulse to do less, encouraging us to spend time in their presence not thinking, but being. It is from Crete, this beautiful island straddling the mountains and the beach just a short flight from Athens or Mykonos, that we can contemplate our own desires in the context of these works. Observing the visual and literal language of the works in Aftermath: A Year Of Desire is an opportunity to reflect on how the pandemic has intensified and reshaped what we seek from our lives, and how our desires will light the way ahead.
