Greek artist takes ‘Dowry’ to textile biennale in Portugal
Nikos Iosif honors tradition, memory, making art from old fabrics
“Come on in. Let me show you my ‘Dowry,’” artist Nikos Iosif quipped as he welcomed me into his workshop just a few months after hitting one of the most important milestones of his career. The “Dowry” he referred to was a series of textile art which he had been showing at a local gallery in his native Thessaloniki during the spring, when he learned that he had been selected from among 1,300 applicants for the Contextile – Contemporary Textile Art Biennial, which has been taking place in Guimaraes in Portugal since 2012.
During my tour of his workshop in the arty up-and-coming neighborhood of Dodeka Apostoloi in central Thessaloniki I noticed piles of colorful textiles, scraps of material and handwoven pieces that once decorated someone’s home or sat in a young woman’s dowry chest – the kindling that stokes Iosif’s imagination and his textile collages.
No surprise then that he called the series he will be showing in Portugal, “Dowry,” a collection of pieces casting light on “a world between the past (similar to that, perhaps, which we remember from our grandmothers) and the future; a world that is tangible, full of warm matter and craftsmanship, but also of memory,” according to art historian Areti Leopoulou.
Iosif became interested in textile art quite accidentally after two painful breakups left him with a pile of clothes, linen and textiles that became the primary material of a new path in his artistic trajectory. He regarded them as a canvas representing tradition and memory and gave them new uses and life.
‘The shades, the textures, even the back of a piece of material can create shadows, detailed brushstrokes, shift your point of view and animate human figures, domestic animals and scenes from daily life’
“My connection with textiles is almost ritualistic. A scrap that is seen as useless can be endowed with magical qualities. The shades, the textures, even the back of a piece of material can create shadows, detailed brushstrokes, shift your point of view and animate human figures, domestic animals and scenes from daily life,” says the artist.
“Girl with Rooster” and “Boy with Ax” are the two pieces among the 57 works by 50 artists from 29 countries that will be shown in Portugal between September 7 and December 15. Indeed, Iosif is among just seven artists who will be showing two pieces.
Both pieces symbolize the archetypal instinct of survival, ritualistic cultural processes and human nature through the prism of tradition and the history of heritage. They also invite the viewer to “ponder the notion of touch,” says Iosif, noting that this is the theme of this year’s Contextile.
Iosif’s work is disarming and tricks the viewer into thinking that what they’re looking at, at first sight, is a painting. The scenes he chooses, plucked from childhood experiences, are endowed with intricate detail. “I construct the images with a rich palette of fabrics,” he notes. “This makes them more interactive. Each scrap of reused fabric creates a complex tapestry that embodies the continuity of tradition. The fabric is given new breath, an enduring beauty and revives the cyclical character of life.”
