Project
This is a project that has to do with depressed psychological spaces of our existence, set in contemporary time. The artist uses graphites and colored pencils to create a three dimensional illusion, through the drawing process. The viewer becomes an active element; as a voyeur, by moving close to the painting so he can discover the different layers. Thus, clarifying the art work with this movement so creating a complete work. Although the subject has to do with depression the final result of the painting is optimistic.
Biography
Yanna Kali was born in Athens in 1981 and she graduated from the School of Fine Arts at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in 2007 with excellent grades. In 2017 she started postgraduate studies at Ionian University in the department of AudioVisual Arts specialising in Audio Visual Arts in the Digital Age. She is actively involved with different forms of art including installations, drawings, constructions and performance art. Recently she was selected with nine other artists, from all over the world, to participate in a residency at the Daugavpis Mark Rothko Art Centre in Latvia. The works that she produced during the residency now belong to the collection at the Mark Rothko Art Centre.
In 2019 she was chosen to present her work at Roma Artrooms Fair and in 2017 show her work at the exhibition Life After Death in Pafos-Cyprus as part of the cultural events in the Europian Capital. She was also chosen to participate in the competition for the Derwent Art Prize in London in 2016. In 2011 she took part in the main programme of the 15th Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, entitled Symbiosis? in Thessaloniki and Rome.
Yanna has participated in many group exhibitions, she has held one solo exhibition at Zina Athanassiadou Gallery and she also has many awards and publications.
More information about her biography and her work you can find at https://yannakali.wordpress.com/
Yanna Kali, The Sheet, 2019, pencil on paper, 140x120cm
Yanna Kali, Untitled, 2019, coloured pencil, graphite on paper, 80x100cm
Yanna Kali, Untitled, 2019, coloured pencil on paper, 30x40cm
Yanna Kali, The Cardiogram of a city, 2017, graphite, colored pencil on paper, 75x120cm
Yanna Kali, Portrait, 2016, coloured pencil, graphite on paper, 80x80cm
Yanna Kali, Untitled, 2016, colored pencil, graphite on paper, leather, 150x80cm
Yanna Kali, Rothko Child, 2018, graphite, colored pencil on paper, 40×30 cm
Yanna Kali, Starry Night (installation), 2017-18, leatherette, velvet, wood, metal, video 0.33”, 193x68x113 cm
At the installation entitled “Starry Night” the viewer enters to the interior of an oversized suitcase.
Into the limited with no light environment, looks at the only spot where light comes from. From that spot (s)he can watch a video which shows the starry sky and air-drenched grass. At the same time the sense of hearing is triggered because of the narrative of a fairytale that says: “Once upon a time they lived well, others better and others worse. All of them defeated by death, but some alive through memories”. The music of René Aubry, from the album “Invités sur la terre” (Invited to earth), accompanies the fairy tale.
The colors green and brown that cover the exterior parts of the suitcase indicate the colors of the earth and the blue velvet that covers the interior surfaces symbolize the sky.
It is an interactive installation where the human becomes the object which is carried by a life-size suitcase. Instead of the human currying a suitcase, the suitcase is currying the man for a journey to the only certainty of life.
Yanna Kali, The Room(installation), 2006-07, wire, pink cotton, wood, furniture, lamp, 275x340x340 cm