The Gap is delighted to announce the primary New York present of work by Greek artist Vassilis H. (b. 1977, Athens), entitled Should Love Canine. Drawing inspiration from magazines, fanzines, movies and pictures from the seventies and eighties, Vassilis paints women and men in configurations suggesting themes of lust and aggression, typically isolating them towards plain backgrounds with chromatic auras.
Vassilis’s topics, from a extremely popular vaquero to a quartet of slow-dancers, all appear conscious of an exterior gaze, bracing for it. Off-kilter like a thrift retailer discovery, gnarly like a discovered photograph in a stranger’s household album, these fifteen work depict girls, {couples}, canine, dancing—and plenty of ice cream. Scoundrel males, unattractive women or the precise pet canine supplied is perhaps referenced by the title, which right here appears like a mandate: “Should Love Canine.”
The inherent symbolism of his choices speaks to Vassilis’s broader venture: uncovering all of the pathos and nuance in human relationships. A part of that thriller is how we think about ourselves in relation to others, and who we change into once we pose. We drape a proprietary arm over a good friend or lover, sq. off for the viewer, let our canine give us doggie kisses. Vassilis captures the way in which we’re once we are consumed by our subject-hood.
Stylistically, the work rethink the formal language of latest realism, referencing the sure-handed model of social realists like Thomas Hart Benton and the genre-bending irreverence of George Rental. There’s deliberate brutality in the way in which topics’ faces are rendered, their lazy crimson eyes and smushed-putty options appear to confront us with our voyeurism as if it’s a joke we share: when you’ve ever by chance opened the entrance digicam in your telephone, you already get it.
Vassilis H. is an artist who lives and works in Athens, Greece. He’s represented by Allouche Benias Gallery and just lately exhibited of their beautiful historic constructing in Athens close to Syntagma Sq.. He has proven at Dio Horia’s Mykonos location in addition to group reveals at The Breeder. He studied within the UK at Sheffield School of Artwork and Design after which the Athens Faculty of High-quality Artwork.