Kalfayan Galleries (11 Haritos Street, Kolonaki, Athens) present the first solo exhibition of Antrea Tzourovits titled ‘APORIA’.

In his work Antrea Tzourovits employs a wide range of means of expression: sculpture, painting, installations, video, music.  He often refers to his personal experiences as a war refugee, but at the same time,  he explores the ‘different’ and the ‘ambiguous’ in all their forms through humor. He focuses on asking questions, not in giving answers through his works. Furthrmore, emphasis is placed on the poetic-philosophical content of objects and situations. A characteristic feature of the works presented in his first solo exhibition is the intelligent balance between 'reality' and 'appearance', which carries the element of surprise with the viewer as the main recipient and explores the 'different', the 'paradox'.

For the exhibition at Kalfayan Galleries, Antrea Tzourovits is inspired by the myth of the Cave in Plato's ‘Republic’. His starting points are the elements of surprise and oxymoron, and often with humor as his main tool, he creates an artistic environment where things are not what they appear to be. Some of his sculptures represent, for example, paper tapes, knives or packing materials and surprise the viewer with their masterful ‘imitation’ of reality. Even his abstract paintings raise questions about ‘matter’. At the same time the materials themselves contradict the 'materiality' of the objects, each time deconstructing the 'fragility' or the 'durability' of the objects. Using a variety of materials (e.g. rubber, glass, resin, wood, acrylics, etc.) and sometimes intervening and modifying the use and function of everyday objects (e.g. garbage bags are turned into balloons, air conditioners produce ice),  Tzourovits succeeds in his works to visually bridge art with science, traditional techniques with industrial production.

The artist explores the fluid nature of the 'real', the relationship between the senses and the perceptual capacity, the useful object and the 'aesthetics', but also the moral-philosophical extensions of mass production and consumption of everyday objects which rapidly become useless. As the artist notes: "Industrial items for the mass production of packing materials are treated as scrap items of ephemeral consumption which sacrifice their fragile nature to protect a valuable commodity. At the same time, they record our anxiety for control over the accidental and dangerous, catastrophic mistake. They appear as tacit assumptions of a collective fear against chance that will threaten the 'indestructible' certainties of a world which has lost its ‘magic’ qualities."

Antrea Tzourovits (born 1987, Serbia Montenegro - Danilovgrad) lives in Greece since 1999. He is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts and is pursuing his postgraduate studies at the Slade School of Fine Art in London. He has collaborated with the UN to raise awareness among young people about issues of racism and the need to protect vulnerable social groups. For the last six years he has been working as a maker of stringed instruments (art luthery) in one of the most famous instrument factories in Greece. His excellent technical knowledge in fields ranging from interior and exterior mural painting to instrument making, coppersmithing, ceramics, music and even the construction of air conditioning systems, translates into works of art that demonstrate Tzourovits’ deep knowledge and research on the interactive relationship between matter, space and spectator.