“How to Blue the Yellow or The Idea of Things” by Rania Ragou

Alma Gallery presents the exhibition “How to Blue the Yellow or The Idea of Things” by Rania Ragou.

A hybrid space where reality is deconstructed and reassembled. This is the visual universe of Rania Ragou in her new exhibition at Alma Gallery, titled “How to Blue the Yellow or The Idea of Things,” curated by Thanos Stathopoulos.

With photography, collage, and digital media as her tools, Rania Ragou experiments with form, creating new images within her own personal universe. The works that emerge and which we will see at Alma Gallery are not imaginary, but a merging of the real and the non-real. They reflect a suspended state in her inner world, as she confronts herself and searches for her personal truth.

Guided by Plato’s ‘theory of ideas’, the concept of things presented by the artist is that of ideal forms, ideas as realities, “true beings,” as opposed to their appearances and imperfect representations in the sensory world.

The artistic language of Rania Rangou unfolds at the intersection of painting and the experience of new media. Constantly experimenting with media and form, Rangou navigates a hybrid space where reality is both deconstructed and reconstructed. The real is not neutralized, but its forms are reinscribed within a new, enigmatic idol, something that exists as both this and that, here and elsewhere. This is not fantasy, but a coupling of the real with the unreal, the unconscious with the conscious.

The surprise, the dream, the paradox and the enigma that emerge from her images depict a moment of confrontation: the self facing itself, its questions, its thoughts, its inner needs and divisions, perhaps suspended at a crossroads, searching for its own personal truth.

As the exhibition’s curator, Thanos Stathopoulos, notes:
“Drawing on Plato’s ‘theory of forms,’ the idea of things proposed by the artist is the idea of ideal thingsthe ideas as realities, the ‘true beings,’ as opposed to their appearance and their incomplete representation in the sensible world.”

Alma Gallery represents and exhibits some of the most prominent contemporary Greek and international artists. The gallery occupies two locations, in Trikala and in Athens.

Maria Almpani first opened Alma in 2010, in the heart of Trikala. The gallery quickly earned acclaim for displaying the work of both established and emerging Greek artists who use a wide range of media. Significant exhibitions succeeded one another, including Manolis Charos & Pavlos Samios (2010), Almost in Parallel (2011), Suspensions (2012), Odyssey (2013) and Kaleidoscope (2015), among many others. Exhibiting artists included Pavlos Samios, Manolis Zacharioudakis, Manolis Charos, Dimosthenes Kokkinides, Michalis Manousakis, Angelos Antonopoulos, Xenophontas Bitsikas and Yorgos Milios.

In early 2015, the gallery expanded by opening a second exhibition space in the area of Kolonaki, Athens. It continues to organise important solo and group exhibitions, showcasing the work of emerging and established Greek and international artists, including Haralabos Katsatsides, Tassos Misouras, Andreas Vousouras, Yorgos Kazazis, Gogo Ieromonachou and Vana Fertaki.

Since its inception, Alma Athens has committed itself to supporting innovative emerging talent and regularly participates in international art fairs such as Discovery Frankfurt, Art Market Budapest, Frame Art Basel and Art Athina, all the while promoting groundbreaking artistic vision beyond the Greek border.

Alma hosts an ambitious programme of exhibitions every year, aiming to foster the public’s appreciation for Greek contemporary art and to highlight the ongoing dialogue between Greek and international contemporary artists.