FRACTURED FIGURE

DESTE FOUNDATION, NEA IONIA, ATHENS 5.9.2007-31.7.2008

Fractured Figure – Works from the Dakis Joannou Collection is a show that reflects, with its concept, scope, and synergies, both the way an increasing number of artists are viewing the human form and the way that very different, but equally legitimate realities, comprise our experience of the world. Fractured Figure represents a sense of cultural dysphoria, a state of dissatisfaction and anxiety, the opposite of euphoria.

The selected works for the exhibition show that the new approach to the figure is more about the real world than the ideal world. Rather than idealized or fantasized forms, figures are fractured, exploded, broken, and imperfect much like victims of suicide bombers. The artist is looking to the street and to current events rather than to the firmament. It is responding to a world where optimistic assumptions about peace and progress have been overwhelmed by political, economic, and environmental challenges. In the aftermath of 9/11 and the Iraq War, the question is often asked, “Where is the political art?” The most compelling new art is not political in a propagandistic way, but rather more personal and reflective of a state of mind.

Curated by Jeffrey Deitch with Massimiliano Gioni as curatorial advisor, the Fractured Figure bears artistic witness to a fractured world and calls for a renewed embrace of humanity. The exhibition is designed by artist Urs Fischer with the participation of Patrick Arnold, Jeffrey Deitch, Massimiliano Gioni, and Dakis Joannou. An extension of the show will be presented in DESTE’s “Yellow Room Gallery” from April 2008 onwards.

ARTISTS:
  • pawel althamer
  • DAVID ALTMEJD
  • JANINE ANTONI
  • AUREL
  • JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT
  • ASHLEY BICKERTON
  • JOHN BOCK
  • PAUL MC CARTHY
  • MAURIZIO CATTELAN
  • PAUL CHAN
  • DAN COLEN
  • GEORGE CONDO
  • NIGEL COOKE
  • ROBERTO CUOGHI
  • NATHALIE DJURBERG
  • ANASTASIA DOUKA
  • HARIS EPAMINONDA
  • Urs Fischer
  • ASSUME VIVID ASTRO FOCUS
  • BARNABY FURNAS
  • ROBERT GOBER
  • MATT GREENE
  • TIM HAWKINSON
  • ADAM HELMS
  • ELLIOTT HUNDLEY
  • CHRIS JOHANSON
  • FOLKERT DE JONG
  • MARTIN KIPPENBERGER
  • TERENCE KOH
  • JEFF KOONS
  • NATE LOWMAN
  • MARK MANDERS
  • MATTHEW MONAHAN
  • TAKESHI MURATA
  • WANGECHI MUTU
  • TIM NOBLE & SUE WEBSTER
  • CADY NOLAND
  • CHRIS OFILI
  • POKA-YIO
  • RICHARD PRINCE
  • GEORGIA SAGRI
  • AUREL SCHMIDT
  • GREGOR SCHNEIDER
  • DANA SCHUTZ
  • TINO SEHGAL
  • KIKI SMITH
  • CHRISTIANA SOULOU
  • FRANCINE SPIEGEL
  • ANDRO WEKUA
  • RALF ZIERVOGEL
CURATED BY: JEFFREY DEITCH