[Drawing]
1988
The work is displayed as part of the permanent exhibition
Drawings
Ink on cardboard
115 x 301 cm
Donated by Zafos Xagoraris, 2002
Inv. No. 431/02
Pantelis Xagoraris’ artistic production is situated in the intersection of science and technology and aims to explore rules of harmony and symmetry, drawing inspiration from the field of Cybernetics, the ancient Greek mathematicians, Russian Constructivism, Bauhaus, and the various discourses on Art which dominated the 1930s, especially as they appeared in The Third Eye journal. As early as the 1960s, Xagoraris created works which were based on mathematical
analogies and were executed through complex calculations. Having acquired access to the Computing Centre of the Athens center of ekistics in 1971 and at the MIT Center for Advanced Visual Studies in 1974, in the framework of a fellowship, Xagoraris was able to expand his designing potential and maximize the accuracy with which he actualized his projects. Moving a step even further, he later focused on the algorithmic analysis of various geometrical transformations aspiring, first, to achieve their quantification, and their later use in computer assisted design programs. In his work titled Cubical Curve, 1987, polygonal patterns forming multiple grids overlap, thus giving shape to curves made of straight lines. As opposed to the systematic use of computers and printers in the rest of his work, in Cubical Curve, Pantelis Xagoraris exercizes a particularly manual method for the construction of his work, using traditional mediums, such as oil and pencil. Standing on the verge between scientific methodology and questions on aesthetics, the artist visualizes order and symmetry within the chaos of the infinite, by recourse to the principles of order and harmony celebrated in the Greek philosophy.
Tina Pandi & Stamatis Schizakis, text from the permanent exhibition guide ENTER EMST : Collection & History, A short guide, 2020