Eleni Zevgaridouartist

p resentat ion

N omatei is a sculptural project presenting full body portraits of individuals, their relationships and their interaction with the viewer. Nomatei is a project that involves people, explores connectivity of large or small groups, allows participation of the public. Individualization and uniqueness is celebrated and the minumentalization of the anonymous is proposed to examine the different perceptions, the complex ideas and the expressive language it may ignite.

The following material includes the artists statement, pictures of the work and exposure of the installation.

March 2016

4statementI examine and demonstrate work in which handmade, minumental, representational, full body portraits

of individuals are created. The familiarity of the human figure bridges the cognitive chasm between the viewer and the object, and consequently understanding improves. My investigation is about a complex web of interactions which take place in the process, between agencies which might traditionally under-stood as artist, subject, viewer, participant, recipient, audience and object.

The viewer connects easily with the object and the object ceases to be an object. It becomes the mould of our perception, facilitates understanding of an issue, bridge voids, balances chaos, stands for itself and leads the viewers imagination to make subjective scenarios, reflections.

Nomatei1 is a monument to the unacknowledged people. It identifies differences of characters, advo-catesdiversity, and eliminates hierarchies and social positions. Nomatei is a minument to human nature and to the thesis that every one holds an important role in society. It offers space to frailty, to the seem-ingly insignificant and the often bewildered.The role of the figurative monument is unclear in contempo-rary art and life. Nomatei seeks to address this lack, explores complementarity, understanding and social behaviour, through the heterogeneity of the figure and through minumentalisation.

The constant repositioning of these sculptural sketches seeks to explore experiences of cooperation, loneliness, tolerance, success, loss, prejudice, and ultimately coexistence. The mode of working, sketching in three dimensions, emphasizes body language and poise, over detail, arguing that the whole body is as eloquent as a portrait of each one of us. Recognition of the sitter happens from the total body not just the face. The scale and presentation balance collectivity and solitude. We exist as ourselves but also through others. For this reason we might consider them not to be separate pieces but one collective piece of work, a form of human society.

1 Nomatei is a greek word that indicates a group of people who are linked through a common idea or share a com-mon environment.

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This slide show is presenting the sitters of the first Nomatei group (Lincoln UK 2015)

If it is not visible please visit

https://youtu.be/koLTLaw2eoQ

the sitters

Click to watch slideshow

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nomatei in the courtyard

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nomatei in the courtyard

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nomatei in the studio

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nomatei in the studio

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nomatei in the studio

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3 February 2015Their first exhibition! a group show with the title

This is all Im going to say, you know what I mean

Originally the work was to be situated on two shaped tables but the curator decided that such tables would block the view to the rest of the work and dismissed the table legs.

about the show: This is all Im going to say, you know what I mean is a touring group exhibition that brings together artists based in the UK and in China. The first stop will be in Project Space Plus, Lincoln, with a wide range of artistic expression, by seven contemporary artists - Steve Dutton, John France, Chunmei Liu, Fang Lu, Mengmei Zheng,

nomatei in view

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Tao Zhang and Eleni Zevgaridou. Their artworks range across traditional oil paintings, multi- media works, Chinese ink paintings and contemporary sculptures, with a common theme of commenting on opacity in language, particularly in a spirit of critical realism. An opportunity for cross-fertilisa-

tion between artists from the UK and China, the project will continue in Beijing and Tangshan in China.

The title this is all Im going to say, you know what I mean is an explanation of this phenomenon --- you can figure out my words from the image, but I wont speak out or write it down, you know what I mean because you know it as well.

about the work: Elenis work is about hand made, minumental, representational, full body portraits of individuals, their relationships and their interaction with

the viewer. The small scale creates Aristotelian metaphors by analogy by sharing the space with the viewer.

She attempts to offer a new voice to the neglected naturalistic figural form and proposes the minumentalisation of the anonymous. The viewer is invited to appreciate the metaphor between the installation and the com-plex ideas, letting subjective perceptions, take her/him to different realities, change the perspective to the site, to the moment, thus ignite expressive language. The figures are made of stoneware clay with an animated sketchy manner. Each installation include several figures, presents compositional narratives and investigates relationships and social connections formed.

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7 May 2015A Project that presented this work: PurdahPress : 9 artists respond to democracy. Curator: Danielle Bastiaens What is democracy? How do artists respond to this notion, and does this differ from practitioners in

other fields? The underlying idea of this project was the notion of democracy, which was currently a much discussed topic.

The project consisted of an A3 newspaper in which several art-ists were asked to give a response to the notion of democracy. The following picture was my expression of Democracy through the society I was making. That is the time I gave a name to this project - NOMATEI. the god father was my brother Kostis.

Nomatei ( in Greek)

Democracy is a ruling system where majority rules through a representation system. Nurtured by the concept of democracy the west cannot avoid to admit that democracy is on crisis at the moment, that the system by which it is run in western coun-tries is anachronistic and hypocriti- cal.

In our own microcosmos, we all have a role, and the importance of that role could be read in so many ways. In our Democracy we the people are

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supposed to hold the supreme power to rule, directly or indirectly through a system of representation in the government. Is this still true? Or is this turbulent times testing democracy with globalization and lost cultural identities. Nomatei (a Greek word) are personalities who are identified by their names and together they create a group with common ideology.

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July 13 2015Although away in Greece, with the great support of Dr Duncan Rowland (organising committee), I managed to participate in the British HCI 2015 Interactions gallery that took place during the opening cocktail of the symposium. The figures were placed along and next to art that had used high end technology, to remind the human factor it the designing and making of technology.

http://british-hci2015.org/participa-tion/interactions-gallery/

http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?doid=2783446.2783638

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nomatei in British HCI 2015

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nomatei : poster presentation in China

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nomatei : poster presentation in China

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Project Space Plus

9-18 September 2015

to be discussed

nomatei in MA final show

Click to watch the brochure

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nomatei -book readers

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This is a video of the exhibition to be discussed in Project Space Plus of the University of Lincoln (September 2015)

If it is not visible please visit

If it is not visible please visit

Click to watch the movie in youtube.com

Click to watch the movie in youtube.com

Nomatei in the exhibition to be discussed

the exhibition to be discussed

https://youtu.be/GYpbaRImp0Q

https://youtu.be/8gyWBkYHoko

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NOMATEI - A Koinnia of Minumental Figures has been longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2016

This means that this work will be published in the Aesthetica Art Prize Anthology. This book showcases the work of 100 of the most exciting artists from around the world and is a dynamic guide to international contemporary art.

Longlisted works will also be screened on monitors in the Aesthetica Art Prize Exhibition (14 April 29 May, Preview on 13 April, York St Marys), giving this work further exposure to exhibition visitors.

http://www.aestheticamagazine.com/art-prize/

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During the last month of my MA I decided to conduct a mini survey that had two outputs. First, to find out how the sitters of this project evaluate their participation in my project, how they feel when they see themselves, through the medium of sculpture, their understanding of miniature scale, and different possibilities of an installation for public view. The second aspect of that survey explored the spectators view about the need to minumentalize average people in a community. The second part took place during the exhibition (to be discussed) in the gallery, through a very simple multiple choice questionnaire addressed to the exhibition visitor.In the first aspect where I examinsed the thoughts

of the sitters I had the following results.The vast majority of the sitters (92%) found the idea interesting, intriguing and flattering. A feel-

ing of great importance and yet with some degree of anonymity is shared by 61% and 54% felt touched in a personal manner. The result triggered private memories for the 23% and 76% felt proud and privileged. The majority of the participants talked about the positive result on community bondage this project brings and a high level of sentimentality around it. They mentioned that the figures had captured something more than just the

form, something of themselves. It is then sug-gested that the installation is generating feelings of belonging, sharing, emotions of proudness, and importance - connections.

92% recognised themselves easily and 54% com-mented on the body language expressed on the figures as identifiable and eloquent .The whole pro-cess of finding their own posture and the realization

of how this reflects their personality to the world is

nomatei in a survey

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another aspect of their reactions to it. Another fact that is acknowledged by 48 % of them is the fact that the figures form a coherent group although the

sitters in most cases do not know each other. No matter how we position the figures in this installa-tion, they stand casually, forming a model agora, expressing the unity of their origin.

About the placement of this installation, they all agree that either in groups or in solitude, the univer-sity campus could be populated by the figures, take

the viewer by surprise when they meet nomatei in unexpected places. However, in groups they offer a different narrative of interpretation.

The small scale allows us to focus on the figures

and is easier to read the body language, promote their preciousness and frailty. All of the sitters believe that a larger scale like 1:1 would make them feel completely differently, some think they would not feel worth it or comfortable, some that they would not connect with their figure as easily as with

the smaller scale.

It seems like the total of participants felt the mean-ing of this project, projected social issues within the university, the sense of community, human relations and communication, feelings of belonging and the validity of appreciation of their input in the space. However, the majority does not apply site specific-ity to the installation, seeing it as a sample of a soci-ety that share same grounds.

Another mini survey took place during the exhibi-tion to be discussed where I was asking the view-ers to answer 4 easy, multiple choice questions, examining the future of this project.

The sample was 10% of the total number of view-ers, during the 10 days of the exhibition (it took place during the private view of the exhibition).

100% of them agreed that they would like to see more of these figures populating the town of Lincoln. 99% of them whished to have more fig-ures populating the campus of the University of Lincoln. 68% wish to hear more about the adven-tures and where abouts of Nomatei.

Eleni Zevgaridoue-mail: zevgarel@gmail.com, twitter: @zevgarel

elenizevgaridou.wordpress.comT +44 (0)1522 530390 M +44 (0)7517 781502