Heleni Polichronatou

The dialogue between arts and life has always been the center of theoretical scientific pursuit and more so of personal experiential approaches. Which of the two is prefixed or emancipated, which is the foundation for the other or which one prevails, remains an open topic of examination if the equilibrium is not feasible.

For the visual and art historian, Heleni Polichronatou, it is the transition of our existence and the eternity of the "Journey", which together define what is critical for the artistic expression. The continuous movement of things, with alternations in existence and absence and the transmutation of every "difficulty" of knowledge and action, gives the pulse of life to the exhibition "the Journey".

Heleni Polichronatou on a daily basis collects what she refers to as "nuggets of wisdom", precious tiny pieces on an ostensible scale, insensibly perceived by most people. These are what she listens to, dwells on and converses with. However spiritual and soulful oscillation of these "small" things is powerful and has a visible imprint on this stretched membrane of artistic sensitivity. It requests this known/unknown contemplation and exploration which Polichronatou responds to. Thus "the separation of art and life is in our mind", as the artist claims and applies, adding her own footprints in the steps of other creators of art, past and contemporary. Among all Polichronatou distinguishes Kazimir Malevich and considers emblematic his dictum "in our days we have to understand that life isn't the content of art, but art must be the content of life, since this is the only way life can be beautiful."

Consciously minimizing the technical means of formulating her artistic objectiveHeleni Polichronatou, with simple inks on small white canvases, she tries to rid herself from material and technical boundaries. Her "travelling bag" with the minima-maxima tools, allows her to paint everywhere, at every moment and whenever her inspiration is stimulated and awakened. Although her voluminous research work is about projects on a large scale in public spaces, herself , uniquely oxymoronic, she builds her "aesthetic" phrases as brief "prayers" but which from a close distance release explosive tension and energetic clarity.

For the artist, "experience" is not only what she has lived and read, but also what others have lived and what she has collected by observing with awareness. The history of cultures and religions, the study of universal and timeless symbols, Pythagoras, Plato, Protagoras, Aristoteles, Heraclitus, Epicurus, Paracelsus, Krishnamurti, Schopenhauer as well as Coelho, Gandhi, Hikmet, Ruskin, Elytis, reformulate and culminate in a reservoir of sensitivity.

Therefore, the "Journey", starts with life and ends with it, so to say it concludes and does not terminate. Art seems like it looks straight in the eyes of life, before it unites inextricably with it in a "small"-"tremendous Journey".