Athens-based White Island Works (Konstantinos “P” Papamichalopoulos and Artemis Lydi) is an independent art and design collaborative. Their limited edition biomorphic rings are talk of the town at the moment and can be purchased through the White Island Works Etsy store. Konstantinos talks to Archisearch on their recent work and upcoming projects.
Biomorphic Series: Two-tailed halo.
`Jap` series: Comics by Konstantinos P
Our work on Black Biomorphics first started out when I was studying the work of Frank Miller`s Rōnin as well as the drawings of Yves Tanguy, the work of Antoni Gaudi and the sculptures of Dubuffet among other influences.
This tendency towards a kind of emergent imagery started appearing in my work in comics -most notably in the “Jap” series- but gradually began to seep through into my more mainstream work in visual arts via printmaking and especially in the Great Golden Room art series.
Me and Artemis Lydi went into a partnership, we have formed White Island Works and we are bringing all this immense body of work in digital form.
Black biomorphic slab ring.
Black biomorphic ring.
Black biomorphic ring – The Willendorf I.
Black biomorphic round ring.
Black biomorphic ring – The Division.
We have already submitted our first videogame called “Solat” to the Tizen app competition hosted by Samsung and Intel and our first eBook app entitled “Talos” is in production and scheduled for release sometime around April 2014.
Furthermore, while my work in etching was being done on Plexiglas we`ve followed a friend`s suggestion and tried a small experiment by drawing a la prima with white paint onto this spectacular pristine black surface. The outcome was quite fascinating. To be honest the experiment was not that small: it resulted in two large works measuring 150 x 100 cm, four medium-sized works (70 x 50 cm each) and a few smaller boxes each measuring 15 x 15 x 6 cm painted on all sides.
“Infiltration” – white paint on black plexiglas by Konstantinos P.
This opened up possibilities to think about other ways in which something painted and/or engraved could be mounted, shown and ultimately – why not? – Even worn.
Jewellery has been – and still is – considered an art form for centuries. So the next logical step for us was to make jewellery with our designs while utilizing our technical expertise as far as this specific material (Plexiglas) was concerned. We`ve already launched a line of five designs in limited editions of 20 pieces each sold exclusively online through etsy.com and sales as well as reviews are phenomenal especially if one considers our limited manpower, resources and zero ad money.
This is not a novel concept though: Japanese armour for instance is exhibited as just any other art-piece in museums all over the planet as do sword stops and other articles of war – both Oriental and Occidental.
Black biomorphic painting by Konstantinos P.
Meanwhile we are designing our next line of wearables. It will consist of earrings, necklaces and medallions. In Fall 2014 we will be going into the process of creating complete Suits of Armour for an exhibition that we will curate with a gallery in Athens in 2015. This show will have – apart from the Suits of Armour – exclusive pieces of wearable black biomorphic jewellery as well as large-and-small-scale works in Plexiglas along with preliminary drawings, sketches and work related to the creation of this massive undertaking.
Great Golden Room series: FFXIII by Konstantinos P.
What we do in this constant to-and-fro between sketches, comics and paintings to digital apps for mobile devices or actual physical wearable jewellery is in practice an economy of means. Given our aforementioned limitations as far as resources are concerned we consider this course of action a rather more prudent choice.
After all, we are a just a couple of parents that divide our life and work between Athens and the island of Folegandros so we need to stick to what we can do best and focus on qualities that cannot be replicated by either an expansive workforce or a big production studio.
White Island Works – Konstantinos P & Artemis Lydi.
behance.net/Papamichalopoulos
about.me/papamichalopoulos
www.kpklik.com
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