Konstantina Krikzoni's artistic practice centres on an in-depth examination of the female form, organic shapes, and ambiguous entities situated within the interstice between figurative and abstract representation. Employing a diverse array of mediums, including oil paint, acrylics, textiles, and rubber, Krikzoni crafts compositions featuring organic shapes and enigmatic beings that challenge traditional depictions of the female figure. Her body of work can be characterized as an autobiographical choreography and visual narrative, with the synthesis of painting and performance as its core modus operandi.
The thematic axis of Krikzoni's work is the expressive potential inherent in the female body, emphasizing its agency and its role as a repository for enigmatic knowledge, secrets, and collective experiences. Her canvases serve as conduits to both personal and collective memory, often referencing obscured or forgotten moments that shed light on individual or shared traumas. Recurrent themes in her oeuvre include abjection, excess, veiled eroticism, and the unsettling presence of the other, which disrupts the concept of self. Within the realm of her art, every brushstroke and movement unfolds as a corporeal event, encouraging viewers to immerse themselves in the intricate interplay between the corporeal and perplexing dimensions. The performative elements in her process, including the incorporation of props like flowers in recent works, serve to convey dualities, with an explicit aim of exploring the tensions that emerge between the corporeal and the cerebral, the material and the immaterial, the human and the inhuman, as well as the human and its animal counterparts.
Konstantina Krikzoni (b. 1987 in Chalkidiki, Greece) holds an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art (Arts and Humanities), London. Previously she studied painting at the School of Visual and Fine Arts of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2015), and Mathematics at the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics of the same university (2010). Her work has been exhibited across Europe, the UK, the USA and South America. Recent shows include Frieze No.9 Cork Street with Newchild, London (2023); Disrupted Harmony, Public Service Gallery, Stockholm (2023); Hot Summer Part 1,2 Swivel Gallery, NYC x Paris (2023); Art Brussels, Newchild, Brussels (2023); Chamber, Newchild, Antwerp (2023, solo); ARTBO, Newchild, Bogotá (2022); Emotions are Fact, Nosbaum Reding Luxembourg (2022); Hypnagogia, 20 Rue de la Poudrière, Brussels (2022) and The Ceiling With A Tranquil Eye, Cork Street Galleries and Royal College of Art, London (2021). The artist is a recipient of the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant (2020), and the NEON Foundation for Culture and Development scholarship (2021/22), and she has been shortlisted for the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) scholarship (2021) and the Chadwell Award, London (2022). Krikzoni has been awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (2021). She lives and works in London.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2023 / Chamber, Newchild, Antwerp
DUO EXHIBITIONS
2023 / Continuum, Frieze-No. 9 Cork Street with Newchild, London
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2023 / Disrupted Harmony, Public Service Gallery, Stockholm
2023 / Hot Summer pt. 2, Swivel Gallery, New York
2023 / Hot Summer pt. 1, Galerie Julien Cadet x Swivel Gallery, Paris
2023 / Art Brussels, Newchild, Brussels
2022 / ARTBO 2022, Newchild, Bogotá
2022 / Degree Show, Royal College of Art, London
2022 / Emotions are facts, Nosbaum Reding Gallery, Luxembourg
2022 / Hypnagogia, 20 Rue de la Poudriere, Brussels
2021 / How did I get here, Oldenburger Str Project Space, Berlin
2021 / The ceiling with a tranquil eye, Cork Street Galleries and Royal College of Art, London
2020/ Rooms 2020, Kappatos Gallery, Athens
RESIDENCIES
2023 / Palazzo Monti, Brescia
AWARDS
2021 / Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship
2020 / Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Painting First Grant, Quebec