That which is conceived to be nature is only the idea of nature arising in each person’s mind. The ones who see true nature are infants. An object seen in isolation from the whole is not the real thing.
Masanobu Fukuoka
As a drawing student, I learnt that to draw from observation is to draw relationships, and that an object cannot be seen in isolation from its environment. Interested in their between relationships, I make drawings of plants, animals, and mineral life. With these geometries in mind, I then observe human constructions. I draw the boxes and the containers in which contemporary life is packed. My eyes follow the endless rows of stacked products, monoculture fields, garbage piles and crowds of people, as the media talks about the emergency of climate change. The repeated element acquires authority, and establishes a norm. I witness daily the mass production of consumer goods and the challenges of making ethical and conscious consumer choices.
My work is interested in drawing relations between the past and the present, nature and artifice, ancestors and descendants, tradition and modern culture. Motivated by the crisis that has its roots in human alienation from nature, it searches to create a platform for challenging stereotypes in research of a natural gesture.
I am interested in seriality, the passage from one image to another, and in the subtle or wide variations of an image that can be achieved through the printmaking process. Printing varied editions allows me to refine my research of the pictorial aspects of the work and often construct modular installations. I use a diversity of printed marks, such as rubbings, drawings, photo exposures, stencils, and stamping. Each technique results in a specific type of mark which then speaks to the kind of experience I am aim to produce. A rubbing conveys very well the sense of tactility of a subject, while a crayon drawing represents a scene through human gesture.
I print on paper because it is a primary material, it is easy to store, carry around, install, de-install, reuse or recycle. I enjoy to wheat-paste my work directly on the wall and create works that connect directly with the architecture of the space they occupy. Handmade Japanese paper is a favorite choice of material because of its sustainable production, its durability, its transparency and its excellent ink absorption properties.
Lithography offers a plethora of visual possibilities and work methods. For most lithographs, I draw on limestone; the meticulous and slow rhythm of the craft on stone allows me the space and time to refine my thinking and make the production of a work a significant gesture. The stones I have been drawing on have been used by generations of artists before me, and they will continue to be used by generations of artists after me. They are not mine; They are borrowed. Printmaking has inherently something communal, which I value. Apprentice printmakers commonly give each other a hand, or collaborate to create work together. Working towards consciousness in my art practice, I reflect more and more on the questions of choice of materials, sustainable production and the future life of the work.
Konstantinos Meramveliotakis 