Joannis Avramidis that he transferred to his work according to strict mathematical specifcations. The medium of drawing Another Look serves not only as an important design tool but also as a control mechanism for the rules of measurement and proportion it closely follows. The drawings were helpful June 26 to August 29, 2020 to the artist in developing a blueprint of the human body, Opening on Thursday, June 25, 2020 which became the foundation of his work. An imaginary 12am to 8 pm central axis formed a starting point for the calculation and construction of his fgures, which were never based on We are delighted to announce that our gallery models but were products of his imagination. will be hosting a solo exhibition by the Austrian sculptor that will include numerous Abstracted, scaled-down, and numbered drawings ofer works never shown before. The show entitled "Another insight into his thinking. They anticipate the ideas for the Look" will ofer just that: a fresh look at the work of sculptures, and their independent, minimalist aesthetics this artist, who is best known for his archaic fgurative are captivating. Carefully executed geometric shapes sculptures. The drawings, paintings, objects, and testify to Avramidis’s meticulous and cautious approach. stencils on view in the exhibition illuminate his unique Energetic markings and overpainted areas document constructivist method, which he adhered to with a spontaneous ideas. Shapes, letters, and numbers go remarkable degree of consistency throughout his life. hand in hand. Abstract experiments are recorded as precisely proportioned human forms. The painterly Joannis Avramidis stands alongside , selection of colors from the beginning of his career are Alfred Hrdlicka and Bruno Gironcoli as one of the most of unique quality. The reduced, geometric markings important Austrian sculptors of the postwar period. He on graph paper are reminiscent of minimalist works by created a singular body of work that is uniquely anchored Ellsworth Kelly and Sol LeWitt created at almost the same in art history and whose focus is resolutely on the human time in the USA. The fnest gradations of color are evident fgure. In search of the absolute form, Avramidis drew of his constant search and research of color values and inspiration from archaic and classical Greek sculpture their efects. as well as from artists like Hans von Marées, Constantin Brancusi, and Wilhelm Lehmbruck. This exhibition marks the frst time Avramidis’s aluminum stencils—the interface between his drawing and Today Avramidis is best known for his bronze sculptures, sculpture—will be shown in their entirety. They appear in some larger than life and all based on a fgurative element his work relatively early on but serve, primarily in his late striving for pure, simplifed form. Key motifs such as the work, as a way to test and implement his constructivist head, the reclining body, and the fgure in stride have considerations. Here, too, individual digits reveal shaped the artist’s sculptural work along with our view the sculptor’s calculations and the graphic markings of him. His distinctive bronzes—refecting antiquity contribute to his artistic language. The stencils were and avant-garde alike—are found in the public space always present in the studio while Avramidis worked on and in numerous important collections. They mark the his sculptures—whether mounted on panels or simply conclusion to a lengthy and in-depth process shaped by leaning or hanging on the wall. As constant companions, the artist’s constructivist methodology. A comprehensive they provide the shapes that will later be realized in understanding of his artistic approach requires more three dimensions. The wall installation of various curved than an examination of his classic works; instead, the stencils in the exhibition’s central space presents a drawings, objects, and stencils in "Another Look" will repertoire of forms that, although revealing hints of his focus on his entire oeuvre and thus contribute to greater fully three-dimensional works, nevertheless express their appreciation of his artistic production. own aesthetics.

Avramidis aimed to create sculptures that were out of Throughout his life Avramidis attempted to fathom the time, archaic and universal. In developing the absolute pure, absolute fgure. Only a deeper involvement with fgure, he relied on a nature-based structural system his drawings, paintings, and stencils can reveal the

CRONE WIEN . GETREIDEMARKT 14, EINGANG ESCHENBACHGASSE 14 . 1010 WIEN TEL +43 1 581 31 64 . FAX +43 1 581 31 64 20 . www.galeriecrone.at . [email protected] persistence and consistency of his artistic investigations. And this is the only way to truly grasp his mathematical, constructivist understanding of art that had a fundamental impact on his classic bronze sculptures. Avramidis understood all of the drawings and objects in the exhibition as independent, stand-alone works of art. He signed and framed them and hung some of them in his studio. To illuminate their relationship to his classic sculptures, the exhibition will include aditionally three of his best-known, most formative works: Der Schreitende (Striding Man), die Sitzende (Seated Female Figure) and Kopf des Hermes (Head of Hermes). They serve as a reference and an illustration of Avramidis’s entire artistic endeavor: the marriage of grace and manifesto.

Joannis Avramidis was born the son of Pontic in (USSR). The persecution and death of his father in prison forced the family to emigrate in 1939 to Greece, from where he was deported to in 1943 as a forced laborer. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna, where he would come to infuence generations of artists as a professor himself. He represented Austria at the Venice Biennale in 1962, took part in documenta 3 (1964) and documenta 6 (1977), and was awarded the Grand Austrian State Prize for Art in 1973 and the Grand Gold Medal of Honor of the Republic of Austria in 2013.

CRONE WIEN . GETREIDEMARKT 14, EINGANG ESCHENBACHGASSE 14 . 1010 WIEN TEL +43 1 581 31 64 . FAX +43 1 581 31 64 20 . www.galeriecrone.at . [email protected]