For Immediate Release:
Fiendish Projects is pleased to announce an installation by New York/ Toronto artist Chrysanne Stathacos entitled Flower Power.
Her project, Flower Power at Fiendish Plots consists of three works conversing with each other. Included is a new installation - The Double Helix Rose Mandala, The Aura Project: Flowers of self and Poems (of three Poets) The interaction between the three works promises to be a visual haiku, enhanced by the scent of the roses.
Chrysanne Stathacos brings into conversation ritual, feminism, technology and environmental issues to create works that investigate the enduring human processes of change, hope, and healing. She has presented over 25 interactive public art projects, installations and exhibitions in Asia, Europe and North America including The Wish Machine, presented by Creative Time at Grand Central Station, New York City and The Power Plant Contemporary Art Gallery, Toronto. Recently her work was included in the groundbreaking exhibition, “The Temptation of AA Bronson” at The Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art in Rotterdam. The inclusion of her work at prestigious European museum resulted in well-received attention, and international press including Hyperallergic, Art Forum, China Weekly Magazine and Art in America.
The Double Helix Rose Mandala installation is created by plucking roses apart petal-by-petal, circling colored mirrors drying over time. The viewers’ senses are touched by waves of rose scent inhabiting the space of the work. The installation reflects the ephemeral process of change, age, decay, emptiness, and the impermanence of even the beautiful.
Aura Project: Flowers of self explores the spiritual/ scientific theories of color from the early 20th century which had a profound influence on modernists, forming the basis of how approach color today. Since 1999 Stathacos has traveled around the world with a biofeedback camera, taking “aura photographic portraits” of holy people. Included at Fiendish Plots is a grouping of self -portraits, and flowers.
Poems (of three poets) are conceived by a process that consists of applying ink directly onto roses through manipulation and performative acts while making the work. Hand -printed on European towel linens are transformed into scrolls, bridging east and west, domesticity and poetic, these works result in images that are both signs and texts of the universe. The works shown here are based on the idea of “the blood of a rose” both poetically and literally as one can see the remnants of the flowers on the linen.