BRIGITTE POLEMIS l Just a Number

BRIGITTE POLEMIS l Just a Number

Urban spaces inhabited by faceless men in suits arranged in rows, circular formations, spirals, or overlapping layers as repeated motifs: these are the key features in the new group of works presented by Brigitte Polemis under the title “Just a Number”. Yet, although specified by their general title as works commenting on the dehumanisation of man in western industrialised societies, they seem however to strangely defy their ‘inhuman’ message, engaging the viewer in what one increasingly understands to be the imagery of the poetics of a world where man and machine have long been reconciled.

The works are carefully planned and assimilated constructions. Preliminary photographs worked-on digitally, resulting in high quality printouts, are placed in composite layers where blocked spaces alternate with openings and unending picture planes. Seen through diaphanous perspex ‘windows’, they engage the viewer in multiple optical illusions which play with 3-dimensionality and theatrical space, allowing changing view-points to generate the sense of movement, enhanced by rhythmic shadow and light effects.

The idea of assimilation is a defining aspect of the works. Being an inherent part of the creative process entailed in each construction, it is moreover addressed by the wide-ranging, multi-leveled associations the imagery of the work establishes in both form and content. Via association the works may thus be simultaneously interpreted as the fulfilment of the hopes raised in the early 20th century by standardisation and the ‘democratisation’ of mass-production lines, but with a sense of nostalgia, since they also seem somehow reminiscent of scenes from black and white television or romantic films of the Sixties. Equally, although the monotonously repeated faceless figurines in “Just a Number” may recall Magritte’s men with umbrellas or perhaps the Greek Gaitis’ men in suits, they are now displaced in Op art-like settings.

Expanding on the interpretative dynamics of appropriation - this all too familiar characteristic in the work of the generation of artists who grew up in the post-modern era, long liberated today from the “burden of history” - the artist also proposes a list of quotations on the theme of life-perception. Drawn from various sources, and proposed as complementary to her works and/or as a possible or probable choice of suitable titles for them, the list contains references to as disparate sources as Woody Allen, William Blake, or Amy Winehouse, combined with the same ease with which her imagery was just seen as uniting Magritte and Busby Berkeley, to Op art and computer generated graphics.

Yet, in the assimilated world of Brigitte Polemis’ seemingly untroubled utopia, the narrative unfolded is neither one of a-historical innocence, nor one devoid of historical judgment: Floating in timeless digitalised environments her repeated motif of men in suits who hold on to their emblematic objects, may momentarily deceive their mesmerised viewer by their rhythmic lyricism. Soon however, one becomes aware that the works were intended from the very start as a sharp contemporary socio-political commentary.

Born in Syria, Brigitte Polemis grew up in a war-torn Lebanon, then under a totalitarian communist regime in Poland and a military dictatorship in North Cyprus. Having lived and studied in the USA and UK, and today living in troubled Greece experiencing the effects of depression and the severe social changes brought about by the economic crisis, her work may thus be interpreted as a commentary on present-day societies living in illusory euphorias, while man is increasingly reduced to “just a number”. But, rendered poetically and with an air of nostalgia, her imagery also seems to belong to foregone topoi of the past, thereby ultimately proposing “Just a Number” as a lyrical comment on an already bygone age.

Denise-Chloe AlevizouDr. art historian

1 “Every bad situation is a blues song waiting to happen.” Amy WinehouseLimited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 47 x 7 cm (24 x 19 x 3 in)

2 “Why do they call it rush hour when nothing moves.” Robin Williams Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 60 x 9 cm (24 x 24 x 4 in)

3 “Gentlemen, unfortunately we are bankrupt.” Charilaos Trikoupis, 1889. Prime Minister of Greece Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 40 x 90 x 7 cm (16 x 35 x 3 in)

4 “A place that strikes you into silence.” FT Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 101 x 9 cm (24 x 40 x 4 in)

5 “Do what you will, this world’s a fiction and is made up of contradictions.” William Blake Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 72 x 8 cm (24 x 28 x 3 in)

6 “I believe there is something out there watching us. Unfortunately, it’s the government.” Woody Allen Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 30 x 61 x 9 cm (12 x 24 x 4 in)

7 “My philosophy, like colour television, is all there in black and white.” Monte PythonLimited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 81 x 7 cm (24 x 32 x 3 in)

8 “I would like, it if I may, to take you on a strange journey.” Rocky Horror Picture Show Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 60 x 7 cm (24 x 24 x 3 in)

9 “What if nothing exists and we’re all in somebody’s dream.” Woody Allen Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 60 x 7 cm (24 x 24 x 3 in)

10 “Who in the world am I? Ah that’s the great puzzle.” Lewis Carroll Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 60 x 7 cm (24 x 24 x 3 in)

11 “Hey, the sky hasn’t fallen yet.” FT Limited addition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 60 x 7 cm (24 x 24 x 3 in)

12 “We think too much and feel too little.” Charlie Chaplin Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 60 x 8 cm (24 x 24 x 3 in)

13 “Music is my religion.” Jimi Hendrix Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 60 x 108 x 7 cm (24 x 43 x 3 in)

14 “There can not be a crisis next week, my schedule is full.” Henry Kissinger Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 40 x 59 x 7 cm (16 x 23 x 3 in)

15 “Life is what happens while you are busy making plans.” John Lennon Limited edition of 6 ink print 60 x 48 x 8 cm (24 x 19 x 3 in)

18 “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events and small minds discuss people.” Eleanor Roosevelt Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 30 x 100 x 7 cm (12 x 39 x 3 in)

17 “A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain.” Robert Frost Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 30 x 80 x 9 cm (12 x 31 x 4 in)

16 “Think before you speak, read before you think.” Fran Lebowitz Limited edition of 6 mix media ink print multiple Perspex 40 x 127 x 7 cm (16 x 50 x 3 in)

1966 – Born in Syria

1984 – 1986 – Meyer School of Fashion, New York

1985 – 1987 - Fashion Institute of Technology, New York

1998 – 2002 – Chelsea School of Art, London

Selected Exhibtions

2013 – ATHENAIS CULTURAL CENTER Desmos Charity Silent Auction 2012 – THE SS HELLAS LIBERTY SHIP MUSEUM – Solo Exhibition Athens, Greece 2011 – VRYSSAKI GALLERY-Group Exhibition, Plaka, Athens, Greece 2011 – ATHENS FRINGE FESTIVAL, Gazi District, Athens, Greece 2010 – DESIGN DISTRICT-Group Exhibition, Miami, USA 2010 – ART MIAMI, Michael Rosen, Miami, USA 2009 – ENIGMA GALLERY-Group Exhibition, Athens, Greece 2007 – ENIGMA GALLERY-Group Exhibition, Athens, Greece 2004 – UNESCO PALACE-Group Exhibition, Beirut, Lebanon 2002 – THE GALLERY AT OXO-Private Exhibition, South Bank, London 2002 – REBECCA WORDWORTH CONTEMPORARY ART-Private Exhibition, Bath 2002 – THE NUNNERY-Private Exhibition, Bow Street, London 2001 – REBECCA WORDWORTH CONTEMPORARY ART-Private Exhibition, Babington House, Bath 2001 – GALLERY K-Private Exhibition, Hampstead Village, London 2000 – BONHAMS CHARITY AUCTION, Knightsbridge, London 2000 – GALLERY K-Group show, Hampstead Village, London 2000 – GASWORKS-Private Exhibition, Fulham, London 1999 – Barkston gardens -Private exhibition, South Kensington, London

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