Dio Horia is pleased to present three new bodies of work by Maja Djordjevic, Hulda Guzman and Iliodora Margellos at Untitled Art Fair, Miami, 2018.
Conceived as a single installation called Hercules is a Girl the works present three female artists’ interpretations of the Labours of Hercules. These works showcase the artists’ conceptual practices, which at their core explore the modern human condition. The Labours of Hercules are a series of episodes concerning a penance carried out by Hercules. They were accomplished over 12 years at the service of King Eurystheus. These labours symbolize the tasks in one’s life. As Hercules complete one by one task, he learns more about himself and his abilities. These labours symbolize one’s life and the obstacles that one faces through out his/hers life.
Serbian artist Maja Djordjevic presents three new canvases that narrate three of Hercules most well known labours. However the iconography used for Hercules by the artist, does not follow the Greek hero’s traditional appearance where, Hercules is depicted as a semi-devine handsome well-built, bearded God. In Djordjevic’s works, Hercules is a girl that has found herself in numerous far-ranging adventures that look like they pop up from a computer screen. Djordjevic paints traditional oil and enamel artworks by hand, sketched out in an early kind of MacPaint program, where squares of color are so large as to prevent too much detail. Her subject touches art history with feminine power and twists of the male and the female gaze.
San Dominican artist Hulda Guzmán presents a series of energetic paintings under the general title ‘Be kind to your demons’. It is said in zen philosophy that in order to break free from the grip of one’s demon, it is futile to lock it in a cage, it is best to tame the dragon beast, and befriend it, so you can climb on its back and ride it through the air. Guzmán positions a series of mythological creatures into intimate domestic scenes that engage in processes such as negotiation, conciliation and arbitration instead of engaging in violent conflict. All works are made in acrylic gouache and acrylic ink on several different types of wood veneer and collaged on cedar plywood following Guzman’s experimental eye for technique and depiction of portraiture and interior scenes.
Greek artist Iliodora Margellos presents a series of new works based on her own interpretation of three of the Labours of Hercules. The group show title ‘Hercules is a Girl’ attributes a gender twist to the viewer’s understanding of her featured works. Margellos uses embroidery and weaving as a mixed metaphor to subvert traditions and interpret the victories of a masculine hero through the eye of a needle. The works exhibited resemble oil paintings on canvas but in fact they are woven with threads and beads sewn on canvas or metal screens. The use of the metal screen as the basis of her embroidery is a recent technique employed by the adding to her continuous interest in the coupling of domestic and industrial materials and soft and hard surfaces.