The final week of the beautiful exhibition ‘Emotion Lines’
The female artist, Charoula Nikolaidou, explores gender and sexuality through contemporary paintings
Last week’s International Women’s Day inspires us to continue celebrating women, and in this case: female artists. Taking place in London right now, is the Greek contemporary artist Charoula Nikolaidou’s second solo exhibition ‘Emotion Lines’ in Mayfair. Presented by Varvara Roza Galleries and The Blender Gallery, the exhibition is running until the 17th of March, so make your way to Gallery 8 to see some lovely and colourful abstract art before it’s too late.
Charoula Nikolaidou’s artwork explores gender and sexuality through the iconography of the human body in different social settings, inspired by her own personal encounters with people. In her statement about the exhibition, Nikolaidou explains how she uses “exaggerated colours, lines and forms attempting to subvert expectations and perceptions of the human body creating “luminous” painting that incorporate vibrant colours in both figures and spaces”.
Gallery Assistant for Varvara Roza Galleries, James Marshall, tells me how Nikolaidou is inspired by Picasso and Matisse and how this is obvious in some of her pieces. “She’s actually using their language to kind of illustrate her own experiences with body dysmorphia, gender and embodiment” he explains. “So, if you love Picasso and Matisse, you can see these works and appreciate them differently, but when you know the story behind them, they have a whole different meaning”.
Showing me Nikolaidou’s piece “Avignon Girls partying” and googling Picasso’s famous piece “The girls of Avignon”, James tells me how she is taking power of the female subject through her own female gaze. “Picasso’s depiction of women was often quite miserable or depressive” he says before explaining how Nikolaidou has portrayed the women in “Avignon Girls partying” of being full of life, movement and dance, compared to Picasso’s famous piece where the women look sad. You can even see in the top left corner of the piece, how she has written “After Picasso” proving the inspiration behind the piece.
Nikolaidou’s pieces are vibrant and colourful, combining different colours and patterns which makes them more contemporary. She has also used different mediums such as spray paint and acrylics. Something that is interesting about the pieces is how she has painted all of the backgrounds last. “The forms are always put first. The environment is supposed to fit around the subject, not the other way around” James explains. “I think that’s kind of a reflection of how she feels as well” he continues, “the person shouldn’t conform to society, but society should conform to the person”.
Art expert or not, Nikolaidou’s pieces are exciting and pleasing to look at, and the meaning and inspiration behind them is fascinating. The artist says in her statement that she portrays the figures in her pieces “with the aim of challenging the audience’s perception, leaving some sort of narrative to be created by the viewer afterwards” and her pieces are inviting us to rethink how bodies behave in relationships.
“Emotion Lines” is displayed until the 17th of March 2023 at Gallery 8, 8 Duke Street SW1Y 6BN
