Elli Chrysidou
Greek
Born in Thessaloniki 1956. Studied at the Ecole nationale des beaux-arts in Nancy. Has taught in the Thessaloniki branch (the French Institute) of the Saint-Etienne School of Fine Arts since 1991. Apart from painting, has also been involved in stage design, children's book illustration, and posters (received first poster prize in the 21st Demetria Festival, Thessaloniki, and in the 2nd Biennale for Young European Artists of the Mediterranean). Has held 13 solo exhibitions since 1981, in Greece, Yugoslavia, and Germany, and shown her work in many group exhibitions.
The relationship between space and light has been central to Chrysidou's artistic inquiry from the outset of her career. In her environment titled Parallel Moments (1986), she created in colour an exceptionally inspiring space bearing the clear traces of human action. In other installations, she uses colour conceptually to suggest mass and texture.
Genesis and decay are concepts that engage her attention today, and she gives them physical form using a variety of materials (such as wood, bone, plaster, and poster paper) together with colour. The composition rapidly outgrows the conventional bounds of the field and becomes part of real space. The image is fragmentarily rendered or merely hinted at, and the materials are transmuted by the action of such elements as fire.
Submitted by Galerie Depardieu Art Contemporain
