Bia Davou
Pillars and Clouds, Hypothetical Intervention in the Pillars of Olympic Zeus, 1983
Photocopy, watercolour collage, 21 × 28 cm each
Donated by Zafos Xagoraris, 2002
ΕΜΣΤ Collection
In Pillars and Clouds, Hypothetical Intervention in the Pillars of Olympic Zeus (1983), Bia Davou envisioned a hypothetical intervention in the public space, whereby she would install her sails on the Pillars of Olympic Zeus, which she imagined as masts, as she saw them through the window of the Desmos Art Gallery in Syngrou Αvenue. Unable to intervene in the archaeological monument itself, she was led to a series of works where a black and white photocopy of a temple’s picture served as the base for different experimentations with materials and textures, creating multiple versions of this imaginary conversion of the temple into a ship. In her drawings, the black sails either appeared in outline and perforated, allowing the light of day and the shades of the clouds to be seen through the gaps, or were painted on in bright colours, with the serial structures more visible in their linear references; other interventions were also attempted in collage (tulle and thread). Emphasis was placed mainly on the aesthetic level and in the free use of colour, with the language of painting dominating. These works convey rhythm and motion to the two-dimensional surface and invite the viewer on a potential trip outside the exhibition space into time and myth.
Biography
Bia Davou (1932–1996) was born in Athens. She studied painting at Costas Iliadis’s studio (1952–1958), where she also worked for a while as his assistant. In 1960, she presented her first solo show in Athens (Nees Morfes gallery). In the early years, her painting evolved from representation to abstraction, retaining her focus on the structure of the visual language. A defining shift in her work occurred in the late 1960s when she gradually abandoned the canvas for three-dimensional constructions and environments. Around the mid-1970s, she began taking an interest in the issue of communication in a broader sense, while she also became familiar with the language of mathematics and computer science. She developed her compositions based on the binary system and the Fibonacci sequence. Since the early 1980s, the poetic dimension of her work has been enhanced with references to the text of the Odyssey and ancient myths. Her work was presented in twelve solo exhibitions, most of them in collaboration with Desmos Art Gallery. She took part in several group shows and international art events. In 2008, EΜΣΤ | National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, held a major retrospective of her work, with a comprehensive catalogue-monograph published alongside.
collection.emst.gr/artists/biadavou
ALL WORKS
- Phantom Investigations (Giannis Delagrammatikas, Ino Varvariti). Each Relation Belongs to Other Relations
- Chryssa. From the Newspaper Book
- Chryssa. From the Newspaper Book
- Nausica Pastra. Analogiques
- Nausica Pastra. Synectron–Square–Circle
- Bia Davou. Pillars and Clouds, Hypothetical Intervention in the Pillars of Olympic Zeus
- Bia Davou. Serial Structures 2 – Odyssey
- Christina Mitrentse. European Union – Bookscape XIV
- Christina Mitrentse. Home is the Net – Bookscape VI
- Karolina Krasouli. Pattern (Νοs. 1–3, 5–9, 11–14)
- Karolina Krasouli. How to Remember (Plans)
- Chrysanthi Koumianaki. When the Performance Ends
- Maria Varela. Rugs of Life
