Odysseas Tosounidis
Written by Kristen T. Woodward, curator, MFA, professor of art, Albright College.
Award winning sculptor Odysseas Tosounidis has mounted numerous exhibitions in Greece, including exhibits at Myro Gallery, and the Hyatt Regency Art Space in Thessaloniki. Group shows and installations of his monumental carvings have been celebrated in venues such as the National Academy of Fine Arts, in Tbilisi, Georgia, and the Art Gallery of the Society for Macedonian Studies, in Thessaloniki, Greece. Odysseas was awarded first place in the First International Sculpture Symposium in Estonia in 2017, and first place in the Third International Sculpture Symposium with Granite, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Kazakhstan. His memorials dedicated to Pontian genocide have been installed throughout Greece as well as Nicosia, Cyprus.
Monolithic travertine, wood, and cast bronze sculptures extend representational figuration into totemic forms. Many works contain a slight but perceptible sway, challenging the solid rectilinearity of massive pylons. Gradual curves animate geometric dolmen. Interlocking and mirrored components are other key features in Odysseas’s sculptural practice, suggesting elemental duality within an aesthetic of economic reduction. Stoic classicism therefore appears to bend to the will of restrained gestural expression. Rounded interstices in some horizontally oriented pieces sometimes suggest a vortex, or oculus. Intentional linkage to ancient Aegean forms can consequently be detected, eliciting staring Sumerian worshippers as well as eyeless Cycladic effigies.
His smaller works, which he distinguishes as Interior Sculptures, are more modestly sized pieces with sensual ‘S’ curved lines. Rather than presenting as maquette studies for his larger installations, the Interiors are rather intimate and personal. Vestigial markings on stone works linger from the physical act of carving, engaging viewers with haptic and rhythmically directional cuts. Other pieces offer a sense of cool detachment, and suggest a softer touch, as the artist’s hand remains effortlessly masked by silky and polished granite exteriors.
A large scale 37 x 70 x 28 inch marble piece titled Reflection presents two identically carved free-standing doorways in an outdoor landscape. Associations with twins, mirrored replication, and architectural gateways are invoked. The sequestration of the doors from a larger architectural structure, in addition to weather-beaten surfaces, recall ancient archeological fragments. Roughhewn exterior walls could imply force and struggle in their creation, while highly polished interior sections offer a striking visual contrast. Whether time, or artistic breakdown of the stone caused the standing doorways of marble to yield, the contrast embodies time and conceptual acquiescence.
Odysseas Tosounidis employs pedestals to support his sculptures which maintain even tenuous connections to human forms, acknowledging historic elevation of figural statues. Larger abstract pieces abandon their marble plinths and exist as fully tectonic structures. Devoid of any applied color, an intrinsic truth and honesty subsists in his raw materials. Whether Odysseas polishes his cuts to graceful refinement, or leaves coarse trace of material release, viewers encounter fundamental connections to stone, wood and metal in his temporal forms.
