Just before he died at the age of 94, my father gave me a box full of photographs that were taken in the early 20th century of family members from Rhodes, Greece. They immigrated to the U.S. and upon arrival, settled in steel towns such as Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and Weirton, West Virginia. The pictures documented immigrants acclimating to their new surroundings.
Were the photographs simply historical documents of my family or was the strong feeling they invoked more spiritual, almost otherworldly? My response to the photographs led me to create environments that include images, placed on both delicate and substantial materials, suspended within aluminum boxes. The photographs evoke the spirit of the Byzantine icon where the image provides the observer with a means of stimulating a meditation.
The installation, Ancestor Worship, is a fluid organism that takes the shape of the exhibition space it inhabits. Images and themes are wound around one another in circular compositions that repeat and resound in space. The space becomes a total environment in which the room functions as an opening into another world…not only historical but also spiritual.
The exhibit, Odyssey, showed new paintings on ground aluminum that are developments of large scale sculptural work. The atmospheric color in the paintings suggest the changes in daylight as reflected on the surfaces of outdoor work. While the tactile quality of the metal substrate documents the physically demanding process, the color is intoxicatingly ethereal and illustrates the true subject of the work; light. Living in the Springs, East Hampton, and spending time on the island of Rhodes in Greece have had a great influence on the work. Both venues drenched in radiant light and color.
In my sculpture, I explore nature. I use geometric and curvilinear shapes, made of aluminum, to focus on organic elements that surround my environment. The same is true in my collaborative work with painter Mary Antczak. Ms Antczak applies a polychromy to the metal that reflect the shapes of the aluminum.
One of twenty five folios of Greek Proverbs
BILL KIRIAZIS
Hog Creek Studio
East Hampton, NY 11937
One Person Exhibits
Odyssey
Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, NY.
Olives and Aphrodite: Further Reflections on Ancestor Worship, Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, NY.
Ancestor Worship, Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, NY.
Wolffer Estate Vineyard, Sagaponack,
Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY.
Goat Alley Gallery, Sag Harbor, NY.
Full Moon Cafe, East Hampton, NY.
East End Arts Council Gallery, Riverhead, NY.
Special Awards
Suffolk County Community College, Riverhead, NY. Permanent Installation
Honorable Mention, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY. 1991, 1993, 1995.
Selected Group Exhibits
Folioeast Presents Bold, Jackson Carriage House, Amagansett, NY
Under the Sun, Arts Center at Duck Creek, East Hampton, NY
7 @ Ashawagh, East Hampton, NY
Works on Paper, Ille Arts Gallery, Amagansett, NY
Faces and Places, Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, NY
Summer of Sculpture, Springs Historic District, East Hampton, NY
Varieties of Visual Expression, Southampton Cultural Center, NY
I Digress...Surface Library @ Ashawagh, East Hampton, NY
Sculpture and Photography, Benson-Keyes Art, Southampton, NY.
Mood Swings, Solar Gallery, East Hampton, NY.
Really, Really Small Works, Amagansett, NY.
Metal at Ashawagh, East Hampton, NY
Metal at Ashawagh, East Hampton, NY
Springs Invitational, East Hampton, NY. 1990-2017.
Vito Sisti Presents, Ashawagh Hall, East Hampton, NY.
Love and Passion, East Hampton, NY.
Art @ The Cellar, Southampton, NY.
Faculty Exhibit, Suffolk County Community College, Riverhead, NY.
Loschen Studio Show, Amagansett, NY.
War and Peace @ Pebbles, East Hampton, NY.
Elaine Benson Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY.
ArtScapes, Amagansett, NY.
Thread Waxing Space, New York, NY.
Islip Art Museum, East Islip, NY.
80 Washington Square East Gallery, New York, NY.
Mather Hospital Sculpture Exhibit, Port Jefferson, NY.
Young BloodArtists of the Region Invitational, Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY.
Recent Articles
2008 “Springs Show Reflects Vitality of Local Art”, East Hampton Press, 6 August.
2007 “Art Commentary”, Dan’s Papers, 21 September.
“Art Commentary”, Dan’s Papers, 30 March.
“Those Who Teach”, The Suffolk Times, 1 February.
“Toasting East Hampton Art”, Southampton Press, 4 January.
2006 “Fine Works From Home and Away”, Southampton Press, 10 August.
2000 “Artists At Ashawagh”, The East Hampton Star, 17 August.
1998 “Diversity Among Artists and Within a Genre”, NY Times, 19July.
“South Fork Gardens Abloom With Art”, New York Times, 17 May.
Education
1982-1984 Parsons School of Design/Bank Street School of Education M.S. ED. Art Administration.
1979-1983 CUNY, Queens College. M.A., Art History.
1975-1979 Apprenticed with sculptor, James Kleege, Art Department, SUNY, Stony Brook.
Teaching
1987-Present Suffolk County Community College, Riverhead, NY. Professor of Art History.
East Hampton, New York, United States
Copyright © 2019 Bill Kiriazis - All Rights Reserved.
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