Form/Less
Maria Fragoudaki
Jewish Museum of Greece, Athens
Drawing from Plato’s “Theory of Forms”, the artist explores the ability of the senses to convey Ideas. Whereas in Plato’s Phaedo the senses are seen as an impediment to the understanding of truth, this exhibition is a study of our capacity to perceive through the senses. Thus, sense perception becomes an instrument of knowledge, and the physical, material objects become a manifestation of abstract Ideas.
Fragoudaki delves into the greater concept of materiality questioning what we see, what we feel and what we are able to understand. Through her interaction with the material she is trying to reveal Forms that are inherent to the objects, but hidden at first sight. Once the artist interacts with materials, she becomes aware of what they are and their properties and often transforms them, challenging our notion of reality.
The works in this exhibition were inspired by artifacts from the permanent exhibition of the Jewish Museum of Greece. They express the artist’s interpretation of the tactile, material culture of two thousand years of Jewish history in Greece through stone, wood, paint, paper and textile objects.