For those who cannot make it without sitting down, Maria set up at Studio Barbieri in Venice, a whole series of chairs. This time the artist reverted to most the traditional of art tools: painting. After a strict selection of a collection of chairs from the 1950s, she completed a series of paintings. The abstract background and the colorful chairs enhance the overall design of the works. However, paradoxically, the function of the design vanishes while all inkling of decoration is suppressed. Initiallythe observer is attracted by the ordered minimalism of these paintings. On a second reading one realizes that these paintings do not pay tribute to trendy designs. After all, it is known that the 1950s didn’t participate in the race for glamor and fashion that is common to other periodsof design. Papadimitriou’s chairs appear anonymous. They seem still to be standing in the studio of some unknown designer.

The fact that no one is sitting on these chairs or is depicted in the background reinforces the feeling of loneliness. These chairs are not complete articles, they are not as yet, commodities. They are works still in progress, as only painting can be and as Papadimitriou’s entire oeuvre so often has proved to be, a continuous and on going process.

Gianni Romano

Excerpt from “Maria Papadimitriou: Living Spaces,” in exh. cat. Living Spaces, p. 5.