VENIA DIMITRAKOPOULOU’S ΕΧΗΙΒΙΤΙΟΝ ‘Sculpting Eros’ brings together the artist’s sculptures and installations at Kourd Gallery in Athens. The exhibition runs May 23-September 28. The exhibition is curated by Eleni Varopoulou.

The central sculpture in the exhibition is Dimitrakopoulou’s work ‘Eros’, comprising of two imposing abstract forms. This marble whole divided by an irregular intersection resembles a microcosm on the brink of union or disintegration. A monument that celebrates the most fluctuating state that man can experience: love. “On one of my walks in the marble workshop, walking among various volumes of marble and leftovers from various cuttings, my eye fell on two large long narrow pieces that were on the ground next to each other”, explains Venia Dimitrakopoulou on how this iconic new work was ‘born’. “It seemed as if it had once been a single volume now torn in two. The word that immediately came to mind was ‘Love’. I took them, stood them up, sculpted them, put them close together leaving, however, some air between them, a small gap. I then placed them together on a common single base.”

The oversized marble sculpture ‘Eros’, however, is not the only new work on display at Kourd Gallery. There are others, such as ‘Alpha’, which is a floor work and which deals with concepts such as absence/distance, love/eternity, the beginning/the infinite. There is also the audio work ‘Love Suddenly’ in which the texts and voice of the artist are joined with the melodies of Panagiotis Kalantzopoulos. Many more works by the artist, many of which are being exhibited for the first time, present her eclectic and diverse visual vocabulary which comprises sculpture, design, video, sound and the written word.

Dimitrakopoulou lives and works in Athens and Aegina, where she has a sculpture workshop. She has presented her work in solo and group exhibitions both in Greece and abroad, in Italy, France and New York. Her works can be found at the National Archaeological Museum in Athens, the Antonino Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo, at the Eleftherios Venizelos airport of Athens, on the island of Skiathos, at the Benaki Museum in Athens, and many other establishments. In 2017 she was awarded with the Knight of the Order of the Star by Italian President Sergio Mattarella. She has realized lectures and workshops in many cultural and educational institutions, including  the Venice Biennale (2015).

• The exhibition ‘Sculpting Eros’, with works by Venia Dimitrakopoulou, runs May 23-Sept 28. Open Tues-Fri 12-8pm, Sat 10-2pm. Κourd Gallery is on 4 Kassianis St, 11471 Athens. For more info, visit the gallery’s site