My challenge while creating this body of work was the cross pollination of two different subjects explored to hit a
frequency of my inner dialog, the void of discovery.
Seeing that the panther is a bit aggressive in it's form, and the playful innocence of the cartoon Felix, it evokes me to explore it as an artist.
The typography within Black Panther Party logo resonates a positive powerful response within in me, seeing it evokes a timeline of historical events, to the human condition of resistance. The "Felix the Cat” is the representation of balance of light, the inner child with the endless imagination,
always in good spirits and off to save the day.
Thus, the curation of two positive images manifests a positive environment / surroundings. Then the question: if you break down the structure of these images and re-identify them, do they take on new meaning?
It works the same within a language, a vocabulary, any structure that constitutes visualization.
Kostas Seremetis 2012
In the exhibition, HUMAN KIND, the common image of Felix The Cat is reinvented and reconstructed not only in form, but with surreal settings and offbeat character depictions. Kostas adapts the elegance and style of Felix and ads the powerful iconography used by the Black Panther Party - a symbol of self-defense and revolution.
This ambitious body of work embodies exploration of signification and reconstruction; Kostas sub-consciously paints with no personal language but the meaning of popular images. He shifts the architecture of both subjects finding the way to integrate them within the same structure. In the end, the construction of these new narrative paintings creates their new identity. The composition of the new provides a fresh world of values, meaning and activity. Here all boundaries are faded and the principles of the previous forms reestablish in thought and experience.
Six grand scale works on canvas, two massive mural size paintings, and introspective video work, creating nine lives, will engulf the gallery walls from October 4 - November 10. We are proud to present the artist's first solo exhibition with Anonymous Gallery and his second presentation in Mexico City, after his inclusion in Draw, at Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico. The gallery will be producing a 52 page catalogue including the entire series of works.
Kostas Seremetis (lives and works in Brooklyn NY) is a celebrated artist: painter, filmmaker, and sculptor. An artist with a large international following, he has exhibited in major art centers around the world including Tokyo, Paris, Berlin, London, New York and Los Angeles, to name a few. Kostas had his first solo exhibition at the Mary Anthony Gallery in New York City (1997) and has shown in group exhibitions among artists like Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat at Murakami’s KaiKai Kiki Gallery in Tokyo, Japan. Inspired by his Spartan culture, Seremetis’s signature style, his fearless representation of realities in popular culture is evident. Illustrative of a successful and varied art career spanning over a decade, Seremetis has shown at museums (Parco Museum, Tokyo; Triennale Museum, Milan, Museo de la Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico), galleries (V1 Gallery - Copenhagen, The Hole Shop - NY, Anonymous Gallery - NY) and is in private collections worldwide. A young and explosive artist, Seremetis has just begun his life’s work.
For further information, images or a preview of available artworks, please contact info@anonymousgallery.com
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