Pavlina Vagioni

Lives and works in Houston, TX, USA

Artist statement

I have painted Medusa on marble, cast her in metal, molded her in epoxy clay and knitted her hair. I return to her because I cannot resolve the contradiction at the center of her myth. She kills and protects. Another goddess, Athena, weaves cloth and plots wars. I make these works appear soft, but they are heavy, objects that can resemble fragments of armor. My sculptures, installations, and sound works begin with Greek myth. I approach myth not as a fixed story from the past, but as a structure that continues to be reinterpreted through the concerns of the present. Its contradictions, between protection and violence, intimacy and conflict, transformation and identity, resist a single interpretation. This openness allows ancient narratives to become a way of thinking through questions that remain unresolved in contemporary life. Language is often my point of entry. I begin with a name and trace it to its root. The centaur Chiron’s name derives from the Greek cheir, meaning "hand," so I paint hands and suspend them with horsehide beneath his bow. Research then determines material and form. In Philotes (Love), I heat rock salt so visitors encounter warmth within the installation. For Medusa, I use mathematical knot theory to entangle her snakes; in Neikos (Strife), Voronoi diagrams determine how acrylic is fragmented. Sound develops from the same research. A Latin word becomes a sequence of notes, E-C-C-E for Proteus Within, while elsewhere I write and sing a score, as in...

Artwork