Bia Davou
Serial Structures 2 – Odyssey, 1978–1981
Ink and pencil on graph paper, 21 × 29.7 cm each
Donated by Zafos Xagoraris, 2002
ΕΜΣΤ Collection
In the mid-1970s, Bia Davou, influenced by the new computer technology as well as her faith in the social and communicative nature of art, conceived and adopted a serial methodology as the organising principle of her practice, based on the binary notational system (the digits 0 and 1) and the Fibonacci sequence. Using white and black dots as structural elements, she initially depicted various sequences that emerged from the relationships between the two preceding units on graph paper. The drawings in this series illustrated a visual code of communication that the audience could immediately understand. The extension of the same practice onto burlap – in the slow, laborious nature of the writing/sewing process – led Davou to the Homeric epic of the Odyssey and the work series Serial Structures 2 – Odyssey (1978–1981). In it, she organised the Homeric verses on the basis of numerical series and transcribed them into a geometric alphabet, creating associations between the triangular shapes of the sequences and the sails of ships. The work reveals Davou’s trust in weaving, which is, arguably, the practice that reflects, more than any other handicraft, the weaving of the myth; tangible proof of the connection between text and textile, the written language and the thread.
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
