Project Description

What is the relation between Breton’s “Magnetic Fields” and the “Magnetic Fields” created by Maria Paschalidou? What drives her compact and lucid works closer to the constantly “open” approach of surrealist automatism? Beyond its technical competence and structural purity, the work is also based on something else: Maria Paschalidou’s universe gravitates steadily towards the physical surrealism expressed in the persistent decay of a demolished house. Paschalidou builds using old materials. She reverses their dissolution, renovating ruins. In other words, she rescues the future by using the present, a sufficiently surreal enough turn in this era that constantly promotes the values of youth. Her work does not just refer to a process of archaeology: rather, it is an emotional archaeology of the future seen through the eyes (and hands) of a young artist.
Thouli Misirloglou
Art Historian – Exhibition curator

 

Nitra Gallery welcomes the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival with the opening of Maria Paschalidou’s exhibition, curated by Thouli Misirloglou.

Construction components and materials – garbage, cement, bricks from a demolished town house in Thessaloniki’s Ano Poli – all become raw materials in Paschalidou’s hands, who in turn renders them on canvas in a synthesis of energy and the processes of time and History. The aforementioned house on 18 Theophilos St. in Ano Poli, which served as the raw material for the current exhibition, is given thorough investigation in the accompanying research conducted the building’s history conducted by the artist.

As the investigation relates, the “House of Roses,” as it was called, was built in the late 19th century. It was first inhabited by Turks, who then vacated the building as a result of the population exchange. The building fell into the hands of the National Bank, and in 1929 was bought by Emmanouil Papadopoulos, a man from Constantinople. In 1981, the house was abandoned and has not been inhabited since. By ministerial decree in 1979, the house was declared a work of art, requiring special state protection, as it constituted a unique architectural and structural example, combining Macedonian architecture with neoclassical elements. It was of great historical value since it was an example of the development of a certain architectural style in Thessaloniki’s Ano Poli. However, in 2012, the house was demolished due to structural risks.

Bio
Maria Paschalidou studied Theology at the Aristoteleion University of Thessaloniki. She continued her studies at the School of Fine Arts of Thessaloniki from where she graduated with honors in 2009. She has participated in many group shows and this is her first solo show.