Eleni Bagaki at Eleni Koroneou Gallery

April 2024, Gare d’Arles
Pardon, do you speak English?
Bien sûr
Do you know how to get to the beach?
No, idea, am sorry
We hoped to spend the night on the beach but there is no one here to ask and there are no busses, it seems
Hope you make it, good luck!

In her second solo exhibition at Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Eleni Bagaki extends her investigation into gaze, desire, and fantasy through a series of large scale paintings and collages. Produced during her residency at the LUMA Foundation in Arles and in Athens, these works use the framework of public space to reflect and negotiate these concepts.

The show derives its title from a publication titled “The Camargue,” discovered by the artist during her stay at the residency house in Arles. Written in the 70’s by British journalist Carol Dix, the travelogue takes us on an exploration of the region and, as the title of the show suggests, evokes the yearnings of our physical selves and the carefree spirit of the era. Dix, a casual tourist, traversed the beaches and the streets of Arles and the Camargue by car, immersing herself in its unique atmosphere. Similar to the Greek isles, from which the artist hails, the Camargue is often portrayed as an island, a fantastical land where minds and bodies can unwind and expand.

Bagaki’s new body of work is harnessing an ambiance rooted in leisure and idleness. The subjects of her paintings (mostly) male bodies in a state of inactivity, sunbathers, gazers, and introverts reflect a sense of freedom, non-conformity, and possibly aloofness. In her paintings, the figures gracefully evade the viewer’s gaze, their eyes fixed upon distant vistas that extend beyond the edges of the canvas. Each brushstroke pulls the depicted forms towards an enigmatic essence, inviting the viewer to embark on a journey of introspection and discovery. Bodies which are close in proximity but emotionally distant, positioned in nature with no clear entrance or exit pathway, create a sense of in-betweenness without a clear narrative of what comes next, implying infinite possibilities non-exclusive to the subjects’ experience.

A close look reveals a resemblance to street photography and its core principles—light, composition and moment—an attempt to capture subjects in their most authentic state, unmediated and spontaneous. Tod Papageorge’s Acropolis photographic series has influenced Bagaki’s creative output. In the early 80’s, the photographer spent his summers on the Acropolis capturing tourists, languid and tender, abandoning themselves to the sun.

These images, primarily rendered in black and white, provide Bagaki with a versatile canvas upon which to employ the “colors she perceives,” a dynamic, vibrant palette and pigment scheme that incites our senses. In that manner, she reimagines and reinvents new compositions, borrowing from Renaissance religious paintings and the techniques of Impressionism, seamlessly weaving them into the canvas.

In parallel to her paintings, Bagaki exhibits a series of collages crafted from photo albums and travel guides sourced from the bazaars of Arles. Within these collages, she employs photographs capturing life in the Provence region of southern France, particularly emphasising women toiling in the fields. Here, the bodies are portrayed as dynamic, resilient and authentic, juxtaposed against idyllic landscapes captured to underscore the idea of the romanticised South.

In Bagaki’s exhibition, the fusion of paintings and collages conjures a poetic mindscape, a tapestry of the subconscious where the human form merges seamlessly with the natural world, evoking a dance between leisure, labor and meditation. Here, the boundaries blur, and one can feel the pulse of nature echoing within the portrayed beings, reminding us that bodies, as the title suggests, possess an innate capacity for movement and expression.

Text by Kelly Tsipni-Kolaza

Eleni Bagaki lives and works in Athens. She has had solo shows in EMST (National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens) Athens (2023), Open Sails, Chania (2022), Chauffeur Gallery, Sydney (2021), Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Athens (2021), Palette Terre, Paris (2018), Radio Athènes, Athens (2017 και 2015), Signal Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö (2016) and NEW STUDIO, London (2015). Her works have been exhibited in several groups shows, such as: Sheltered Gardens, Diomedes Botanical Gardens, PCAI, Athens (2022), Directed by Desire, Rongwrong, Amsterdam (2022), 9th Syros International Film Festival (2022), Prizing Eccentric Talents, P. E.T. Projects, Athens (2021), Seeping upwards, Rupturing the Surface, Art Gallery of Mississauga (2018), Millennial Feminisms, L’Inconnue, Montreal (2018), The Equilibrists, DESTE Foundation and Νew Museum, Athens (2017). Bagaki was a Fellow of ARTWORKS Fellowship Program (2020) supported by Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF) and a recipient of the Pivô Artist Grant, São Paulo (2018) and Celeste Art Prize (2007). She has participated in art residencies at: LUMA Foundation, Αrles (2024) with the support of ARTWORKS, Società delle Api, Grasse (2023), Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen (2020), Fogo Island Arts, Canada (2019), IASPIS, Stockholm (2018-19), Pivô, São Paulo (2018) and Kantor Foundation, Krakow (2017). Furthermore, Bagaki has published books such as: Poems for Him (2023), Butter and Cracker, co-published with Miss Dialectic & Dolce (2022), She left. She left again. She left once more (2021), No Script (2017) and Look for Love and Find a Log instead, published by Tadeusz Kantor Foundation (2017).