In zijn prachtige biografische schets over Sjostakowitsj schrijft Julian Barnes:
“”De kunst is de fluistering van de geschiedenis die boven het tumult van de tijd uit is te horen.””
Preciezer zou ik het werk van Maria niet kunnen typeren. Het is niet het grote gebaar van installaties, vuistdikke verf op vele vierkante meters linnen of maatschappijkritiek in your face.
Zelfs in haar monumentale werk in opdracht, zoals bijvoorbeeld het talismankabinet voor het Ronald Macdonald huis uit 1998, vermijdt ze het grote gebaar en zoekt ze de compassie met de wereld in de precisie van haar beeldende kracht .
Of de interventie bij de kunstbeurs van Athene in 2010: een serie groenten en kruiden in potten op de trappen van het gebouw, met daarboven als een guirlande uitgeknipt de titel van het werk: Growing Hope - in mijn ogen de belangrijkste drijfveer voor haar kunstenaarschap.
Gefluisterde hoop die door het patina van de tijd alleen maar sterker en mooier zal worden.
Kees Weeda
More info and images: https://mariaikonomopoulou.com
Alteration . 2021 - Installation and a book especially made for the Textile Biennial at the Museum of Rijswijk (NL) with 130 cloth bags filled with dry food next to five piles of tablecloths. The piece is inspired by life in my grandmothers village in Peloponnese where I spend the summers as a child. Handmade pouches from discarded textiles was the traditional way of preserving food in rural Greece before the advent of plastic bags in the 1970s.
In the publication with the same title I tell the story of my grandmother's village and how life there has changed over the past 50 years according to my memories and personal observations.
Repair on News . 2022 - A series of works about repairing, reconstructing, mending, restoring.
Editions of the Greek newspaper I Kathimerini (2009 - present) have been embroidered with patterns inspired by traditional Greek textile in an attempt to bring some antidot to the overwhelming problematic daily news with fragments of civilization.
RETOUR . 2022 - May - October 2022 . Verhalenhuis Belvédère, Rotterdam .
'Thinking of Esther' a wall-mounted installation with 56 cords made from newspapers is now permanently placed on the wall of the former sleeping room of the house where Esther Hartog lived with Wally Elenbaas for 56 years.
As artist in residence I have worked in the former house/atelier of Wally Elenbaas (Rotterdam artist 1912-2008) on the third floor of the current Verhalenhuis Belvédère in Rotterdam. We share Greece as a source of inspiration and that is the staring point that I have used to create settings with his work and my work next to each other.
On Fridays between 11.00 - 17.00 h, I have welcomed visitors of the house at the round table to talk about everything, following the example of Wally's famous 'still lives'.
Perivallon #1 – Perivallon #2 . 2020 - ready made embroidery, newspapers, cutout, wax, acid free cardboard, 70 x 50 x 5 cm
School Etymology . outdoor intervention . 2017 - Contemplating about the origin of things the etymology of Greek language has often been a guide, since we still use words that have their origin 3000 years back in history.
Inspired by the working title of Documenta 14 Learning from Athens (Kassel/Athens 2017) I was considering what I would like visitors to learn from Athens and then thought of the etymology of the word 'school'. The word comes originally from the word 'scholi' that means 'pause', 'free time', 'having finished your work'. In that sense going to school is actually an enormous privilege, since people that need to work don't have the time to cultivate their minds.
Growing Care Rotterdam / Athens - In the long-term project Growing Care Maria Ikonomopoulou has been recording, since 2005, private green areas within the public space - mainly in Rotterdam and Athens, the two cities where she lives and works.
Photographs of flower pots on the pavements of Rotterdam, lengths of string and elastic protecting - with affecting tenderness and simplicity - little islands of green on the pavements of Athens: these are the raw materials of installations in situ.
The prints are then transformed into paper flowers City Flowers through a time-consuming process of design and cutting by hand, finally taking on new and varied shapes in ephemeral installations.
In another series of work she uses close up's of the outer wall gardens with the first names of their owners and the names of the plants, which together become a lace of line, color and shape on cutout paper.
Black Plegma . 2007 - print, cutout, Hahnemühle paper . 110 x 80 cm
Spaces Between Us . 2004 – 2009 - The series explores how the space between people sometimes seems to have an almost solid form, as if the individuals share a connection. Other times, that space feels empty, as if there's nothing to connect them. Collected newspapers photos of athletes, politicians, activists, movie stars and so on have being reproduced and being marked with red embroidery.
The series debuted at the Arco art fair in Madrid (2004) as an outdoor intervention. Laminated black and white photocopies, embroidered with red thread are exhibited on a tree in the centre of the city. The project continued with images printed on canvas and embroidered.
Give me your Word . 2005 - silkscreen print, embroidery, canvas 110 x 60 cm (12) .
The project was a commission within the framework of the language campaign Speaking Dutch opens doors (2005) for the foreigners of Rotterdam South. After many years of not speaking the Dutch language they are attending lessons now. In the meantime the population of the neighborhood has changed a lot. In this district people hardly speak Dutch which makes it difficult to practice the language.
During this project 40 Dutch speaking women were brought into contact with 40 Dutch learning women. By asking questions they got to know each other and three weeks later they exchanged presents. The Dutch learning women had to buy a present or make something themselves. The Dutch speaking women had to choose three Dutch words for their partner and give them with a personal explanation.
All the given words are brought together in a very personal dictionary of the Dutch language Give me your word. Supported by the Municipal Education Department.
You and Me . 2006 - You with Me | You all Over Me | You on Me
print on Hahnemühle canvas
100 x 80 cm (3)
