VILLA STELLA
Cultural Centre of the Municipality of Heraklion, Attica
Throughout history, Art has been one of humanity’s most powerful vehicles for expressing its anguish, concerns, thoughts, fears, and hopes. Particularly in difficult times, some of the greatest masterpieces in the history of World Art have been created, inspired by the particular circumstances of their respective eras. Such times have undoubtedly been part of our own experience over the past decade, both here in Greece and on a global scale: first an economic crisis, followed by a pandemic, and, more recently, the sound of war sirens now being heard at the borders of Europe.
One cannot help but wonder, then, where is the Art that has emerged from this period? Which artists have stepped forward to give voice to society through their own creativity?
We find the answer in the work of Chrysanthe Maggidis, whom we are honoured to welcome to the Municipality of Heraklion, Attica, at Villa Stella, from October 31 to November 6, providing an opportunity for citizens from throughout the wider Athens metropolitan area to visit the exhibition. Although young in age, Chrysanthi Maggidis has, through her artistic journey across Greece, Europe, and America over the years, “read” ...
I wish the exhibition every success, and I hope that Chrysanthi Maggidis will continue to captivate us with her creativity. I am certain that we have much to look forward to from her.
Nikos Babalos
Mayor of Heraklion, Attica
The exhibition Polyptychon by Chrysanthe Maggidis captures, in its own unique way, the dynamic presence of the human body, even in its unexpected manifestations and extensions. It explores the convergences, divergences, and interaction between art and human existence; the revelation of wholeness; and the journeys of the mind and soul, leaving each of us with a distinctive and lasting impression. The work does not impose itself upon the viewer, but rather invites and provokes, stimulating the mind, the senses, and the emotions. It connects body and soul, celebrating life, redefining what we consider both small and significant, giving duration to the moment and bringing light to charcoal.
There are many readings and many facets to the exhibition. At its centre are the body and the soul. The child, the woman, the young man and young woman searching for their trajectory, the human being who struggles, love, despair, and the unexpected, transformative emergence of hope are among the themes that particularly stood out to me. Chrysanthe Maggidis’s exhibition is a holistic artistic experience—an experience that is felt and lived more than it is simply seen. We now have the pleasure of experiencing it in our own city, and I personally do so with particular emotion, having had the privilege of knowing Chrysanthe from a very young age and witnessing her remarkable artistic development over the years.
I am certain that her work will continue to engage us again and again, each time taking us further and higher, as she continues to spread her wings, having already achieved recognition in Europe and America.
Good luck, my dear Chrysanthe.
George Petrou
President of the Municipal Council
Heraklion, Attica
"POLYPTYCHON"
Solo Exhibition
(October 31 - November 6, 2022)
Contained within the strict geometric, rectangular boundaries of the paper and its limited dimensions, anonymous and impersonal human figures—stripped of clothing, faces, and distinctive physical features, of individual identity and difference, without even a clear distinction between masculine and feminine—move, float, emerge, or sway suspended like shadows within the darkness, inhabiting states of emotional and psychological instability. Through the universal language of the body, they express a broad spectrum of dark emotions that constrain and enslave human nature. The vigorous, youthful bodies represent not only external beauty but also symbolically reflect the inner beauty—psychological and spiritual—of human beings who struggle, bend, are wounded, heal, and continue onward.
Black is solid and uniform, without sound or luminosity, seemingly inert yet simultaneously setting everything in motion according to its own rhythm. It suppresses difference, deconstructs space and time, and obscures vision and reason, allowing us to experience through our remaining senses. In darkness, we are not what we appear to be, but what we feel. Black is evocative, autonomous, and self-contained; it subdues all other colours, symbolically representing inner emptiness and isolation while revealing, with clarity of meaning, the intensity of dark emotions within the solitude of the human soul. The lighter, illuminated surfaces function symbolically as rays of hope.
Charcoal on paper is an ideal medium for this artistic approach because of its inherent transience and fleeting texture, which signify movement, change, evolution, and transformation. The technique of charcoal drawing contains an intrinsic “historical” relationship between the act of drawing and the process of approaching the image, as it records every line, mark, shadow, blur, erasure, correction, and overlap. The transient nature of the medium corresponds to the ephemeral, short-lived character of the dark emotions that trap the human soul in moments of crisis. Experiencing and overcoming these states ultimately gives meaning and value to human existence.
The Manichaean opposition between darkness and the beams of light that selectively illuminate the human bodies like spotlights outlines, projects, and idealizes the language of the body. The contrast between black and the illuminated surfaces dramatically emphasizes the volume of the bodies, their poses, and gestures, drawing and focusing the viewer’s gaze while encouraging them to experience and identify with the emotions that emerge from within the darkness and into the light. In this way, the artwork acquires an interactive dimension, as the viewer completes the artist’s work through the projection of their own personal and subjective inner world. The protagonist of the work is each of us individually—and all of us collectively.
Chrysanthi Maggidis
Artist and Curator of the Exhibition Polyptychon
Thursday November 10, 2022
The Polyptychon Exhibition was originally intended to run from October 31 - November 6, 2022. The exhibition received such good criticism and so many visitors that the Mayor of Hraklion granted an extension until November 10th, 2022.
A Collection of 18 Art Works
“People will always be enslaved to something. Slaves to ideals, slaves to fear, slaves to themselves. And yet, paradoxically, we accept that our enslavement is a consequence of human nature itself.”
— Elica Snake
