Wednesday, April 17, 2024 – ArtPrisma Gallery (Kountouriotou 187, 18535 Piraeus) is pleased to present the solo exhibition of Eleni Tsotsorou titled “Sub Rosa,” which will run from Friday, April 26 to Saturday, May 18, 2024. The opening reception will take place on Friday, April 26, at 19:00. The exhibition “Sub Rosa,” whose title refers to the medieval custom of conversing under roses – a symbol of secrecy and mystery – highlights the rich symbolism hidden within flowers, particularly roses. Through her work, Eleni Tsotsorou invites us to discover the secrets whispered by each blossom, emphasizing the sensitive relationship between nature and human existence. Tsotsorou’s artistic approach is multi-layered: from exploratory bursts of color to black-and-white graphic representations, her works reflect a multidimensional narrative seeking to unveil the complexity of nature and its human reflection. The curator of the exhibition, George Mylonas, states: “For some time now, I have been observing Eleni Tsotsorou nurturing her ‘flowers’ in her studio in Alimos, as if in a ‘greenhouse’ where everything loses its objective existence and becomes an opportunity for a colorful or black-and-white artistic universe. This world gathers the juiciest, most hallucinatory images and constitutes a dive into an unmapped landscape, which the painter, with a solid design and chromatic power, brings to light. Having been a student of Rena Papaspyrou, Eleni reflects on artistic questions of historical dimensions, giving primary importance to the ceremony of painting in order to see the world around us again through a primal, ‘Dionysian’ gaze. She paints flowers, an ancient, classic theme through a post-pop visual perception, processed and organically integrated into her expression, in an attempt to rediscover art, not its meaning – that has been exhausted by conceptualizers – but its lost ‘naturalness.’ The artist is not simply fascinated by the joy of color or the unpretentious beauty of plant compositions. Through the fragile condition of the flower – in life and the inevitable decay that follows – she sees a transference of human existence, which she aims to ‘save’ in the realm of painting. The botanical labyrinth occupies a dominant position in her thought, thus transferred into her work. ‘The labyrinth concerns me as a concept, as a metaphor for the journey of man in life, because in reality life is a labyrinth,’ she says about her work. ‘The flowers provide an opportunity to depict with elegance and often in an explosion of color this wonderful complexity of nature, which reflects our own diversity, the overall image formed by the juxtaposition and composition of similar, varied colors, shapes, which ultimately constitute another labyrinth.’” Summary Biography Eleni Tsotsorou is a visual artist, primarily working in painting and textile art. Born in Athens in 1966, where she currently lives and works, she initially studied Physics at the University of Athens (UOA) and Medical Physics at University College London (UCL), and worked as a specialized Medical Physicist at Agios Savvas Hospital. She then changed professional paths, turning to art. She is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), where she studied Painting with Rena Papaspyrou, Mosaic with Yiannis Valavanidis, and attended sculpture workshops with Thodoris Papagiannis. She has exhibited her work in 9 solo exhibitions and more than 40 group exhibitions to date, in Greece, the USA, the UK, Brussels, Austria (Vienna), and Cyprus. Her works belong to public, private, and corporate collections. She is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Fine Arts of ASFA, a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece (EEET), and has been teaching art at Arsakeio Schools Psychiko since 2003. She collaborates with the collective of visual artists ARC – Art Revisited Collective since September 2020. A printed catalog is issued and available to visitors for the exhibition. Opening Hours: Monday, April 29 – Thursday, May 2: 11:00-20:00, Friday, May 3 – Tuesday, May 7: Closed. Remaining days: Tuesday, Thursday, Friday: 10:30-15:00 & 17:30-21:00, Wednesday, Saturday: 10:30-15:00. Admission is free. ArtPrisma Address: Kountouriotou 187, Piraeus. Phones: 210 4296 790, 690 6409 125 Web: galleryartprisma.gr Facebook: @ArtPrisma Instagram: natasathomakou Email: artprisma1957@gmail.com