Εrmina Avramidou – Beautiful and Wild
Interview: Alina Asteriadi
An uncompromising artist who takes the risk of expressing herself boldly through her innovative three-dimensional wall sculptures. Shy on the surface, she contradicts her provocatively rebellious attitude towards life, which gives her strength to reveal the unseen through her work and captivate the eye with a disposition to capture the mind, deceive logic, and trigger the imagination. The evolution of her work in her current 3D sculptures is a journey from darkness to light, revealing hidden subconscious “truths”. In her collection of works titled “Deception” such as “Bubblegum” “Chameleon,” and “Fluo Capsule” the artist uses acrylic car paint, acrylic spray ink on recycled plastic, and creates undulating surfaces, facets, and fissures that she shapes herself. Ermina Avramidou, share her time between London and Thessaloniki.
She is the first Greek woman to exhibit at the Royal Academy of Arts-Summer Exhibition, while her exhibitions in London with Varvararozagalleries in Mayfair, have become the “talk of the town.”
Ermina, we knew you as an artist who expresses herself on paper and canvas. What changed and led you to three-dimensional wall sculptures?
For about three years now, I have been in an intense search for materials to create this 3D effect. I experimented with various materials such as aluminum and canvas, but at some point, I came across this material that is malleable with heat and allows me to transform, shape, and even crumple it! I am no longer a prisoner of the material, but instead working with it. The concept remains the same… transformation, deception, trickery, and provocation. It doesn’t matter if it’s a molded melted material in the form of a 3D sculpture or oil on canvas. It’s the creative expression that captures the emotional state, feelings, ideas, sense, or vision within the artwork.
After the pink color of the bubblegum and our chameleons, you surprise us with something even more advanced and daring, the “Yammy” series.
My works invite you to a brain game. Yes, it may seem daring because it alludes to the female genitalia, but the revelation and answers to this mystery are always given by the viewer.
How do you feel every time you have an exhibition?
It’s very difficult for me. I feel strange but at the same time, although I know that I am exposing myself, I like it knowing that at that moment I am provoking. Showing your work is like opening your soul, it’s like being naked.
You collaborate with Varvarozagalleries in London. What are you preparing for the new year?
We are preparing a solo exhibition at the Simon Lee Gallery and after June, I will participate in an auction by Sotheby’s. And all of this, in collaboration with the renowned art dealer Varvara Roza.
Ermina, what is your purpose after all?
Through deception, I aim to approach the truth. I aim to approach the truth that is not on the surface. My goal? “Everything”… and the purpose… the reference to today. It is the duty of the artist to reflect the present!
Thank you very much!
Ermina Avramidou / Visual Artist
Instagram: @ermina.avramidou
www.erminaavramidou.com
