dépendance is pleased to presents Parasite Lost - Gallery Show, Danai Anesiadou’s first solo exhibition at the gallery.
The artist’s practice centres on expulsion and release, guiding toward a deeper sense of self-discovery. It is a transformative process of purging and purification, a necessary clearing before one can invite or manifest something greater. She is letting go of the things she has been living with and has been carrying with her over the years. Anesiadou notes that Beliefs can be mind parasites. The journey of life is less about acquiring something new and more about shedding what obstructs the path to self-discovery. It’s like losing a parasite to gain paradise, revealing that what you were searching for was always within you.
The series Voice to skull features 98 collages. It delves into the themes of unveiling and revealing, exploring the intersection of imagery and psychological manipulation. Danai draws upon visual references, ranging from luxury marketing and film posters to popular culture and elements from her past performances, crafting an ambiguous icon. This series invites us to see the same image through dual perspectives. Each collage intricately plays with perception, drawing attention to the interplay between foreground, background, and their seamless merging. Simultaneously, these compositions evoke the unsettling presence of grotesque masks, blurring the lines between beauty and distortion. Voice to skull is a term used by individuals experiencing auditory hallucinations or delusions, who claim that government agents use microwave-based mind control technologies to transmit sounds and thoughts into their heads as a form of electronic harassment. This concept of manipulation, both perceived and real, serves as a metaphor for exploring the ways human perception and thought can be influenced.
A video, installed within a functioning oven with a cooking, scented boiling pot is placed in the heart of the exhibition. The installation is crafted of random footage captured in Japan, a folded rug, magnets and swarowsky stones. Titled Ja Pan, Nee Pot, the installation embarks on a journey to uncover the magic hidden within the mundane moments of everyday life. It reflects the beauty that often goes unnoticed. In parallel, the notion that everything an artist engages in is inherently art allows for all expenses to be viewed as contributions to the artist’s research and creative process.
Anesidaou is presenting four paintings at the adjacent gallery space. From 2015 to 2019, The artist created a series of vacuum sculptures, which served as precursors to her epoxy works. In 2019, a selection of these sculptures was featured in a group exhibition at Casa Luis Barragan in Mexico. However, following a series of strange and unsettling events, the sculptures mysteriously disappeared after the exhibition, and their whereabouts remain unknown to this day. In response to these losses and driven by a painter’s envy within the conservative art market’s current landscape, the artist made the decision to transition these lost works from 3D back to 2D. This shift not only revives the lost pieces but also questions the 50-50 profit-sharing model between galleries and artists, highlighting the shared labour involved in art production as someone of the gallery made the paintings based on her instructions. When asked about her profession as an artist, Danai has always responded, “I do everything, except painting.”
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Danai Anesiadou is a Belgian artist of Greek origin based in Brussels. She currently has a solo at the EMST museum in Athens and has previously had solo exhibitions at WIELS, Brussels; Nottingham Contemporary; Kunsthalle Basel and Etablissement d’en face, Brussels. Her work has also been shown at documenta 14; Casa Luis Barragán, Mexico; Palais de Tokyo, Paris; Witte de With, Rotterdam and the 5th Berlin Biennale. Her work is included in the collection of Kanal Pompidou in Brussels.