03 Octοber 2013 - 10 November 2013

"One first participates in becoming and thereby affirms it; then one recognises that all moments of the world are moments of becoming."

Halsey and Young: 2006

The exhibition "moments of becoming" is the first group exhibition hosted by the Blender Gallery on the subject of the artist's relationship with his artwork, and hence the role of the artist during artistic creation. The theory of Deleuze and Guattari sheds light upon the artist's artistic and creative becoming of the self, as it develops throughout and following the creative act. Namely, it is about the separation of artistic experience, whereby, during the first moment of becoming, the artist fully committed to the creative act is rid of his identities and his consciousness becomes saturated with his work. In other words, completely absorbed by the creative activity, the artist experiences a detachment from everything that defines and characterises him as an individual, and with the innocence of a child cherishes a purely unique moment with his work. In the second moment of becoming the artist, having reverted to all that define his ego, transcends from the intense state of creative flow, and contemplates on the art object, which he now endows with the respective elements of his personhood and era. Hence, the aim of the current exhibition is to reveal the artist's multi-dimensional role to the creative process. Therefore, it highlights the transition from the moment of the artist's embodiment with his work to the very next moment where the artist attaches meanings to his artwork, guided by his personal stimuli and the wider societal context of his times. The artists participating in the exhibition create a unique blend of thematics, styles and media, converging to an aesthetic that exudes intensity and innovation. Konstantinos Patsios playfully combines cues from popular culture and pop art, Elma Petridou constructs original and interactive artworks, Taxiarchis Mermiris shares his sarcastic viewpoint towards the "Fairy tails" characters, and Antonis Tsakiris introduces us to his inspired and enigmatic "Runaways." They compose a group of artists who balances in-between moments of becoming. Juggling the moments of becoming, time seems to freeze, space becomes irrelevant, the conscious penetrates the unconscious, the ego ceases to exist, and the artist steps out of himself and emerges from within his multi-dimensional work.

Leonia Gavrias, Efi Palli