INSPIRED BY the words of Maurice Merleau-Ponty “Every object is the mirror of all others”, the upcoming exhibition at Thalia Gallery, with the title ‘Can you see me?’, will inaugurate this gallery’s new space in Kolonaki on Thursday, May 23, and will run till June 8. Comprising the work of 5 artists (Lana Frey, Zeiko Duka, Marina Leon, Alexandros Georgiou and Thanasis Georgiou) the exhibition will present anthropomorphic works in which faces and bodies unfold and unleash their energy under our gaze. Each artist, through their unique vision of the world, with their personal and individual sensibility, reveals their relationship and perceptions of others.

Through the words of Maurice Merleau Ponty, we discover the world through the eye of the artist, which he explores in his work ‘The Eye and the Mind’, published in 1960, where he proposes the rehabilitation between subject and object.

In contrast to the classical discourse that reduces the sensitive world (perceived by the body) to a world of chaos, Maurice Merleau Ponty rigorously analyses, in a scientific manner, the works of Cézanne and his peers, who, far from the rigorous method of drawing, emancipate themselves and give life to reality. Colours come together, creating shapes and projecting reality onto the canvas. Reality as the artist knows it.

It is no longer just a matter of intellectualising reality, which reduces it, but of giving it form and meaning by combining the capacity of the body (particularly through the eye) and the mind. Maurice Merleau Ponty invites us to get to know the world through this alliance between body and mind, between the world of sensations and the intellectual world that the artist unfolds before our eyes.

Maurice Merleau Ponty’s point is richly instructive, enabling us to understand that the world can be known through art and the artists who give sense to it.

By extension, this implies that the artist acts as a link between two worlds that would otherwise be unable to communicate. The artist creates a link between the subject and the object, enabling the latter to exist. The artist, through his or her talent, physical, intellectual and spiritual abilities, can make the world accessible to all. The meaning given to reality is an invitation to discovery and experience.

Lana Frey, Zeiko Duka, Marina Leon, Alexandros Georgiou and Thanasis Georgiou invite you to discover faces and bodies through their eyes and their individual sensibilities. Each artist expresses themselves with their brush, knife or chisel. Their movements give birth to shapes, their energies create textures, and their work is brought into the world of reality. As they play with bodies and gazes, they invite you to discover their truth about the world around them.

They let us see and feel through their sensibilities and their visions. An experience that reveals not only the artist, but also ourselves and our inner sensibility. An experience that reflects us as much as it reflects the artist. An individual and subjective discovery of the real.

• Thalia Gallery is on 51 Skoufa Street, 10672 Athens. The Vernissage takes place on Thursday, May 23, 7pm. For more info visit the gallery’s site