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Onassis Stegi presents “The Wave” mural by Sofia Stevi at Mavili Square

The future of Athens and of our world

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The female figure of Sofia Stevi at Mavili Square is an artwork about the uncertainty of the future and the optimism of change. “The Wave” is a mural that waves (goodbye) to today and hopes for tomorrow.

Photo: Giorgos Papacharalampous

In these tough times, with the future being uncertain, the mural of the internationally acclaimed visual artist Sofia Stevi at one of the most central parts of Athens, the Mavili square, conveys a coded message of pure optimism to us all.

A sensual female figure, a naked snake-headed Venus, under a black mass resembling an ominous cloud or a wild wave. Being highly symbolic and allegoric, Stevi’s mural reflects the mixed feelings we experience in times of crisis. Drawing references and inspiration from poetry, philosophy, and digital media, the artist creates her artistic universe, time and again. With bold, gesture-like Japanese-ink strokes and “candy” colors, resembling the fluid world of an unruly, fragmentary animation, she portrays an “edgy” and uncertain present, with a touch of optimism and hope. Just like most of her works, this composition reflects the ambivalence that characterizes life in the city, life in the 21st century.

Stevi’s “Wave” could refer to the pandemic waves, to an uncertain future. Yet at the same time it waves to wonder, to change, to a brave new world.

“The Wave” finds its place in a fluid, uncertain, volatile world. On the upper part of an oblong, dirty wall on 18, Dorileou street, which bears the traces of a demolished dwelling, the passers-by heading to Lycabettus Hill raise their heads to behold a 13-meter high dreamy composition of wavy forms, framed by the (occasionally cloudy) sky of Attica. In an area that means a lot to her—since the art project Fokidos, which initiates a dynamic artistic dialogue in the city, was conceived in this neighborhood—, the artist opens a discussion about everything that concerns us today, with all the passers-by, the residents, anyone looking for their way through the streets of Athens.

Photo: Giorgos Papacharalampous

The Wave

“The artwork ‘The Wave’ is a wordplay based on the several meanings of the word ‘wave.’ A female figure waves at someone or something, while there is a black cloud close to her which is about to swallow her, like a wave. This cloud might represent the future. The recent years have been quite harsh for humanity—the pandemic and climate change have made life difficult for many people, unbearable for even more. We all have to make important decisions for the future our beautiful planet, and also for ourselves. This work has to do with the uneasiness and uncertainty caused by living under such conditions, when bad news is a daily constant. Yet it also has to do with the optimism of change and hope, which I believe is part of human nature.”

- Sofia Stevi

Sofia Stevi in 208 words

Sofia Stevi makes paintings, sculptures, installations, and artist books—enigmatic, dreamy works in which mostly female sexuality finds guilt-free forms of expression, open to multiple interpretations.

Drawing references and inspiration from poetry, philosophy, and digital media, she creates her artistic universe with bold, gesture-like Japanese-ink strokes and “candy” colors, resembling the fluid world of an unruly, fragmentary animation.

She studied at Vakalo School of Art & Design in Athens and at Central Saint Martins College in London, and has presented her work in numerous group and solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad.

In 2017, she had her first solo show at the Athenian gallery The Breeder, while her work has been exhibited in 2018 at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, UK, in 2019 at the Pippy Houldsworth Gallery in London, and most recently in 2021 at the gallery Alma Zevi (now called Paterson Zevi) in Venice, where she chose to present smaller-scale paintings, using a calm palette of black, white and in-between tones.

Sofia Stevi is one of the artists presented by the New Museum, New York, at the Benaki Museum/Pireos 138, in the context of the exhibition “The Equilibrists” (2016).

Stegi in the city. Encounters with contemporary Greek artists on house walls.

Once again, culture gets out of Stegi and travels through the city, goes down to the center of Athens, adds color on its walls, and advocates for the intertemporality of the urban landscape. Athens is our city and we treat it as what it is: a living organism and a space full of stimulating encounters, full of people who transform streets or entire neighborhoods with their work, each of them in their own, unique way—an area that constantly evolves, redefines itself, and seeks answers to timeless questions. And this is why we explore it daily. Every year, through commissions and site-specific artistic interventions in the public space of the Athenian city center, Onassis Stegi seeks after places where art intertwines with daily life. With a series of artworks on building walls, great works of contemporary Greek visual artists are recreated on large scale. It began with “The Kiss” by Ilias Papailiakis at Avdi square, in Metaxourgio. Now, Stegi presents “The Wave” by Sofia Stevi at Mavili square. And there is more to come.
“The Onassis Foundation is presenting a series of works on which to rest and refresh our gaze. Works that bring us comfort and give us pause. In neighborhoods that need a breath of fresh air. Works that don’t have only a decorative function, but evoke feelings and discussions, shedding light on angles and places we would otherwise never notice. Contemporary works in sync with the present. After all, that is what contemporary culture is all about. Culture in sync with the times, with our needs and desires.”- Afroditi Panagiotakou, Director of Culture at Onassis Foundation

Credits

Sofia Stevi, painter
Onassis Foundation Project Manager: Maria Vassariotou
Line Production: UrbanAct
Realized by Same84
Commissioned & Produced by Onassis Foundation

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