Crux Galerieis happy to present the second solo exhibition of Anestis Ioannou, with the title The Seekers.The exhibition consists of work son paper and denim, video, and installation. In his new series of works, Ioannou explores Yiannis Tsarouchis’ costumes and set designs for The Birds by Aristophanes, directed by Karolos Kounin 1959, and for The Trojan Women that Tsarouchis himself directed in an outdoor parking lot on Kaplanon Street in 1977. He explores the allegorical dimensions of these works in search of a correspondence or response to contemporary urban trauma and urban life.

Most of the works function as a platform for a narrative that can be shared among“secondarycharacters”—objects, materials, and forms—and is expressed through materials related to theurban environment and the social fabric. Thus, the conventional painting surface of canvasisreplaced by denim fabric, a material that has been associated with the constantly shiftingurban life and youth culture.

The city’s street culture has been seamlessly integrated into his artistic practice. Ioannou understands skateboarding as a form of rebellion, based on the transitional state of a rider, who has no specific purpose or destination, yet carries a great deal of youthful energy and fully embraces the urban experience.The skaters in bird costumes do not take off, yet they long for flight, just as The Birdslong for the utopian city.The challenge of gravity, the idea of attempting to escape, to take off, to remain in constant motion, is pivotal in the presented works.