CN: PoKa1985orch

MT: African wood on wooden base (106x80x13 / B:10x80x36)

DN: Dr. Sven-Olof Kargsten - 2006

LC: Deree College Faculty Lounge

CM: Orchestrides is part of Athena Politopoulou-Kargsten's Triforms sculpture series, whose theme is the female torso. The artist's manner of presenting the torso in triforms is unique. Three thin surfaces, silhouted after slightly varied outlines of the female figure in motion, are superimposed in perspective one against the other, evoking dance. Dynamic as well as lyrical, they evoke the sensuality of the feminine figure in motion. The Triforms are set in various poses of graceful movement that their sweeping curves and smooth surfaces can be viewed and fully appreciated from all sides. The spaces within the shapes of the abstracted figure become part of the design, and accentuate the perspective, through which an intricate play of light and shadow seeps in.

Politopoulou-Kargsten's Triforms were inspired by the work of French choreographer Maurice Béjart, whom the sculptress had met in Athens early in the 1980s. Several pencil drawings of dancers enable one to understand how the Triforms were conceived. These drawings were transcribed into paper maquettes, which Kargsten was to transfer onto monumental sculpture. Kargsten's impeccable sense of Triforms was effectively defined by various materials; marble, wood, and plexiglass. The first version of Orchestrides in Parian marble evokes purity and elegance. The second version in plexiglass has the added attraction of transparency, which allows one to see right through the forms. The third version in African wood dyed black evokes primordial aspects of the soul. The interplay of materials, extraordinarily moving in their poetic contrasts of texture, arouse an emotional response in the viewer. It is worth noting that the 'musicality' of Politopoulou-Kargsten's Triforms served as a source of inspiration for Greek choreographer Calliope Venieri-Kjerulff.

[Megakles Rogakos 11/2006]

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
NIKOLAIDIS, ARISTOTELISThe Erotic Emersion of Sculptured Time; FRIAR, KIMON The Triforms of Athena Kargsten 1984 Zygos Gallery, Athens
TAMBAKI, ANGELA The Primordial and the Modern in the Sculpture of Athena Politopoulou-Kargsten 1993 Giorgio de Chirico Art Center, Volos

© THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE: ACG ART .