Rania Mesiskli: A Special Exhibition of Fine Art from Greece and Italy

Written by: Greek News

New York.- The Odyssey Within, a Special Exhibition, is a captivating survey of modern-day artists from Greece and Italy. The Exhibition is taking place at the Agora Gallery (530 West 25th Street, NY, NY) from December 12 until January 2, 2009. Works of both introspection are included, offering a unique look to the contemporary art coming from these two prominent Mediterranean locales.

Established in 1984, Agora Gallery caters to the taste and trends of the sophisticated New York market and the Gallery's discerning worldwide collector base. The Gallery is located in Chelsea at the center of the art community.

Among the paintings exhibited are works of Rania Mesiskli. Her paintings are graceful and rich in details. Mesiskli's eccentric precision is imposed by love to art.

The term fashion is used as a synonym for glamour, beauty and style. In this sense, fashions are a sort of communal art, as a process or product of deliberately and creatively arranging elements in a way that appeals to senses or emotions. The costumes she paints are providing her works with a dynamic, fun and exhilarating style. Motility, vitality and animation are fundamental aspects to her works and provide the viewer with wacky characters in the mist of complex movements to ponder and enjoy.

The make-up in her paintings is not a simple transformation. It is a showcase, cinema, and television, history of art, books, and entertainment centers. It is a culture. Everything is related to make-up: Hippies, punks, horror movies, movie stars, art movements, vintage magazines, opera, and museum listings.

Burlesque – a stylized brand of variety show where bawdy comedians and scantily clad dancers exchange sexual innuendo – was once a relic of dusty music halls, but the dancing part is experiencing a revival across America. Burlesque dance satisfies a certain hankering for old – fashioned, winking modesty. These shows use comedy and music to challenge the established way of looking at things. The performers often do their acts as some kind of character, with sensuality, humor, and theatricality. The girls are dancers, variously trained in salsa, ballet, jazz, and tap. While the golden age of burlesque is long gone, its legacy is very much alive. Every time a comedian does a spit take or tells a joke with a double-meaning, or whenever ΄΄Saturday Night Live`` skewers politicians and movie stars, you are watching burlesque in action. The tawdrier burlesque tradition lives on too. Every time ΄΄Jerry Springer Show`` airs bared females, it is a classic burlesque tease. There is a natural human need for the bold comic challenge that burlesque poses to the social, cultural and sexual status quo.

Jugglers make balls and clubs dance through the air. The ΄΄Weight Juggler`` manipulates heavy objects and weights. The ΄΄Salon Juggler``, who is nevertheless a very excellent artist, juggles such objects as his cane, glove, top hat or derby, and articles to be found in the drawing room such as flower bouquets, billiard balls, and cues. The juggler who juggles upon the back of a moving horse. The ΄΄Antipodist``, who juggles objects with his feet, and the ΄΄Group Jugglers``: this consists of more than one person juggling the same objects back and forth. Most jugglers combine into their acts many of these forms. Τhe skills of these performers are representations of the vitality of human aspirations under challenge. If they can do that, surely we could struggle on and even excel in our humdrum daily lives as well.

Image Credits: The Burlesque Dancers, 2007, Oil & Acrylic on Canvas, 60" x 48"

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