“As a substitute of formulating ideas by phrases, I compose with layered colours.”
– Athene Galiciadis, up to date artist
Athene Galiciadis’ work attracts its power from the motion of repeated varieties. Throughout work, sculptures and installations, the Zurich-based artist makes use of grids, curves and blocks of colour to construct a proper language formed by sample, materials experimentation and references spanning concrete artwork, design, craft, science and literature.
Galiciadis’ “Stillleben (Reflection on Longings and Belongings)” and “Stillleben (Window)” have been chosen for the Artwork Basel in Basel (ABB) 2026 Assortment on Samsung Artwork Retailer. The works have been chosen for his or her robust use of colour and sample, qualities that translate naturally to the digital viewing expertise on Samsung Artwork Retailer. Created in partnership with Artwork Basel, the digital assortment options works by Switzerland-based artists from taking part galleries and brings up to date artwork from the truthful to Samsung Artwork Retailer subscribers worldwide. Samsung Newsroom spoke with Galiciadis about type, colour, the concepts behind the chosen works and the way digital presentation can carry artwork into the house.
A Private Language By means of Patterns
Q. Your work has a definite language of shapes, colours and supplies. How did this visible system develop?
I started creating this visible language whereas finding out Wonderful Arts at ECAL(École cantonale d’artwork de Lausanne) in Lausanne. On the time, many artists within the Lausanne artwork scene have been working with Neo-Geo aesthetics. I admired the rigor of that language, however I by no means totally related with its precision. Fairly than adopting it straight, I attempted to translate it into one thing that felt nearer to me.
I began working with geometric varieties, patterns, repetition and symmetry, however I intentionally embraced the handmade. Each form was drawn or painted by hand, making it distinctive and barely totally different from the one beside it. The patterns shifted subtly throughout the floor, not by a predetermined system, however by the small variations that naturally come up from guide repetition.
Q. How do you concentrate on rhythm, variation and alter inside a composition?
Repetition has at all times been central to my apply, however I’ve by no means been concerned with repetition as precise duplication. As a result of my varieties are drawn and painted by hand, no factor is ever fully similar to a different. A line turns into barely thicker, a form shifts, a colour adjustments in depth. These variations accumulate and create a way of motion throughout the floor.
I usually consider repetition when it comes to rhythm somewhat than sample. A sample suggests a hard and fast system, whereas rhythm permits for fluctuation, pauses, accelerations and sudden turns. In that sense, my compositions are maybe nearer to biology than to geometry. They’re structured, however by no means completely predictable. They repeat, however by no means in precisely the identical manner. Over time, this visible language has change into greater than a software. I see it as a placeholder for “in-betweenness,” a technique to maintain ambiguity, transition and a number of meanings directly.
Q. How a lot of a piece is deliberate earlier than you start and the way a lot is determined by the act of constructing it?
I often start with a really clear picture in my thoughts. I feel visually, so many works begin as an virtually full psychological image somewhat than an idea expressed in phrases. What fascinates me is that the completed work by no means seems precisely like that preliminary picture. The picture has to cross by supplies, gestures, scale, time and the realities of the studio. In that translation, issues inevitably shift.
I don’t see these deviations as errors or compromises. Quite the opposite, they’re usually the place the work turns into most fascinating. Whereas the start line is usually extremely outlined, the ultimate work is at all times formed by the act of constructing. It’s a dialog between intention and discovery, between what I envisioned and what the work itself asks for alongside the way in which.
Q. Are there sure supplies, colours or varieties you end up returning to over time? If that’s the case, what retains drawing you again to them?
Sure, there are specific varieties, colours and motifs that maintain returning: snakes, spirals, pinks, triangles, zigzags and plenty of others. I don’t consciously determine to revisit them; somewhat, they appear to reappear on their very own, as in the event that they nonetheless have one thing to show me.
I usually consider inventive analysis as a spiral somewhat than a linear development. You interact with one thing, transfer away from it, discover different instructions after which return to it later. However whenever you come again, neither you nor the motif is kind of the identical. Maybe for this reason I’m drawn to recurring varieties. They change into companions in a long-term dialog. Every time they reappear, they carry traces of earlier works whereas opening up new questions and potentialities.
The Which means of “Stillleben”
“The identical constructions that present consolation and a way of residence may also change into mechanisms of separation and exclusion.”
Q. Your palette usually strikes between smooth pinks, greens and yellows, with darker blues and blacks including distinction. How do you concentrate on colour as a technique to form stress, depth or environment?
For me, colour is one thing deeply private. I don’t method it primarily as an ornamental factor or as a manner of illustrating an thought. Fairly, colour is a mind-set and a type of inventive analysis.
In some ways, this course of replaces language. As a substitute of formulating ideas by phrases, I compose with layered colours. By means of this gradual accumulation, I seek for nuances, tensions and relationships which can be tough for me to articulate verbally. The depth that emerges is just not solely visible but additionally emotional and conceptual.
Q. What are you able to share concerning the works chosen for the Artwork Basel in Basel 2026 Assortment on Samsung Artwork Retailer and the second by which they have been made?
This work emerged inside a bigger constellation of work that I used to be creating concurrently within the studio. I not often work on a single canvas at a time. As a substitute, a number of works evolve alongside each other, making a form of dialog. What seems on one canvas usually migrates to a different; a colour, type, rhythm or concept that begins in a single portray might discover a totally different articulation within the subsequent.
“Stillleben (Reflection on Longings and Belongings)” (2021) by Athene Galiciadis. Photograph by Andreas Zimmermann.
Each works have been created inside such a course of. They carry traces of a number of explorations and conversations going down throughout totally different canvases on the identical time. Trying again, I see every work as a part of an ongoing reflection on questions that proceed to occupy me: belonging, displacement, reminiscence, inheritance and transformation. Fairly than providing solutions, the portray grew to become an area the place these themes may coexist and work together.
Q. How did the title “Stillleben (Reflection on Longings and Belongings)” come to the work and what does it add to the viewer’s understanding of the piece?
The title emerged from two circumstances that always really feel inseparable. Questions of migration, displacement, in-betweenness, transformation, inheritance and identification run all through my apply and form how I perceive the world. What does it imply to belong? Who’s included and who stays outdoors? Belonging can provide shelter, care and nourishment, however it might additionally produce boundaries and exclusions.
Longing is especially tough to explain. For me, it’s usually related to a need to bridge a spot that’s at all times current however was by no means completely my very own. It may be inherited throughout generations, carried by tales, silences, recollections and cultural interruptions. It’s a eager for connection, continuity and understanding, whereas realizing that some distances can by no means be totally overcome.
The identical constructions that present consolation and a way of residence may also change into mechanisms of separation and exclusion. For me, “Stillleben (Reflection on Longings and Belongings)”inhabits this house of contradiction. It displays on the simultaneous need to belong and the attention that belonging isn’t easy, fastened or harmless.
The place Artwork Finds New Which means at House
Q. Samsung Artwork Retailer provides individuals a technique to encounter world-class artwork within the areas the place they dwell. What pursuits you about that on a regular basis relationship with art work?
What pursuits me most is the opportunity of creating an on a regular basis relationship with artwork. A number of the most significant encounters with artworks occur not in museums, however within the areas the place we dwell and spend our time. Once you encounter an art work repeatedly, it turns into a part of your every day life and the connection deepens over time to change into a chunk of your recollections and private historical past.
This resonates with my curiosity in collaboration, participation and neighborhood constructing. I take pleasure in types of entry that permit artwork to enter on a regular basis environments. By means of tasks resembling Actioning, I’ve explored how that means emerges by shared experiences and sustained engagement. I see artwork as one thing that may create connections and change into a part of a shared cultural life.
Q. How do you assume the expertise of viewing artwork adjustments when a piece turns into a part of a house surroundings?
I feel the expertise turns into slower and extra intimate. In a museum, we frequently encounter artworks briefly and alongside many others. At residence, the connection unfolds over time and the art work turns into a part of on a regular basis life.
You would possibly discover it whereas consuming your morning espresso, passing by a room or returning residence after a tough day. Typically you look intently; different occasions it merely exists within the background. But it continues to form the environment of an area.
The work turns into an ongoing relationship. Meanings can shift over time and particulars that originally went unnoticed might all of the sudden change into essential. Because the viewer adjustments, the work adjustments too. This displays how I perceive artwork: not as a hard and fast message, however as one thing open that continues to generate new associations.
“A number of the most significant encounters with artworks occur not in museums, however within the areas the place we dwell and spend our time.”
Q. For viewers who might uncover your work for the primary time by Samsung Artwork Retailer, what would you hope they take time to note?
I might invite them to spend a bit time with the work and permit their eyes to wander. At first look, my work might seem structured, repetitive or geometric. However when you stick with them for some time, small shifts, irregularities and transformations start to emerge.
I hope viewers discover that nothing is ever completely fastened. Kinds repeat, however in addition they change. Colours overlap, reveal and conceal each other. What might initially appear secure steadily turns into extra fluid and sophisticated.
Maybe most of all, I hope individuals permit themselves to expertise the work with out feeling the necessity to instantly perceive or interpret it. A lot of my apply is worried with issues that exist between classes: between belonging and displacement, order and unpredictability, reminiscence and creativeness. These are experiences that can’t at all times be translated into phrases.
If viewers take the time to note the rhythms, layers and delicate variations inside the work, they could uncover that the portray is much less about offering solutions than about creating house for reflection, curiosity and private associations. I hope everybody can discover their very own level of entry and construct their very own relationship with the work over time.
(From left) 2026 OLED S95H, The Body Professional and Micro RGB.
Samsung Artwork Retailer is an artwork subscription service out there on Samsung Artwork TVs. The service gives greater than 5,000 artworks in 4K high quality from over 800 artists by greater than 80 companions. Obtainable throughout Samsung’s expanded 2026 Artwork TV lineup, Samsung Artwork Retailer brings curated art work into on a regular basis areas by Samsung’s show expertise and design.