NOULA / CONTEMPORARY ART, COMMUNITY & CONSCIOUSNESS CELEBRATED AT ARTEREAL GALLERY MEDITATION EVENT

Last Tuesday, Artereal Gallery was transformed into a home of consciousness, community and contemporary art, welcoming more than 40 guests for a meditation workshop with exhibiting artist, noula diamantopoulos.

The free event, Inhale: From Meditation to Manifestation, brought together a wide section of Sydney-siders, crossing generations, cultures and genders to create a melting pot of humans under a shared goal of connecting with like-minded individuals and exploring the benefits of meditation.

Seasoned and novice meditators alike came together under the guidance of exhibiting artist, noula diamantopoulos, who introduced the group to a range of meditation techniques before inviting guests to share their experience with the process.

“In a world that demands we are connected and available 24/7, we have never been so disconnected. While it may seem counterintuitive, disconnecting from our online obligations is the answer to finding real connection; not only with ourselves but also our community,” said diamantopoulos.

“Meditation is becoming increasingly mainstream; the benefits are countless and undisputed. As part of this free event, we wanted to create a safe space for people to learn about and explore different meditation techniques and to forge connections with other likeminded people,” she said.

Following with meditation, attendees were encouraged to share their thoughts and experiences with the rest of the group, prompting some powerful responses. Many of the attendees also remained after the event to chat with Noula and personally thank her for the night.

The workshop took place amidst the pristine surrounds of contemporary art by diamantopoulos, whose exhibition Inhale – receiving the divine gift, served as an ideal backdrop for a group meditation workshop.

     

Artereal Gallery thanks our wonderful friends at nudie juice, YOKE magazine, Egg of the Universe, 1GiantMind and Spiral Foods for generously donating their products to bring this event to life. 

Inhale – Receiving the Divine Gift is on display throughout the month of November at Artereal Gallery.

NOULA DIAMANTOPOLOUS / INHALE – RECEIVING THE DIVINE GIFT

Noula Diamantopoulos_As Above i (details)_2014_encaustic on board_17.5 x 157.5cm 

noula diamantopoulos

Inhale: receiving the divine gift

5-29 November 2014

Exhibition Opening: Wednesday 5 November from 6-8pm

Meditation event with noula diamantopoulos

Tuesday 11 November from 6pm

Click here for invitation and RSVP details.

For further information on this exhibition please email info@artereal.com.au

To view a video interview with noula diamantopoulos please click here.

Inhale – Receiving the divine gift is the second in Noula’s planned trilogy of installations encompassing the phenomenon and significance of breath. The sequence commenced with Breathing Space, a grouping of enigmatic female heads cast in transparent resin and set within an atmospheric light and sound scape. Breathing Space explored the ‘idea of us - as beings for this planet and the concept of a ‘preparatory void’ in anticipation of our arrival’. A selection of these works is included in Inhale – Receiving the divine gift to enhance the narrative and convey the range and continuity of the artist’s creative practice.

Breath is an elusive concept; it is within us and it surrounds us and is the connecting invisible force that is awareness. For Noula breath is mystical and her works explore and inhabit that fleeting balance between the known, the unknown and unknowable. The universal magnitude and the minutest particles embody the range and vast spaces Noula traverses to interpret and to convey visually and conceptually a sense of the divine gift of breath that can open up space, time, body and mind. 

The intensity and the power of this vision are encapsulated in the ‘as above’ series of wall works in the archaic and alchemical medium of encaustic that fuses rich colored pigments with heated beeswax. The celestial expanses and fiery molten energy of creation are captured in the cratered surfaces and the pin-spot accretions of each compressed stanza of the multi-paneled works that frame sublime cosmic moments and panoramas of awe and wonder. 

The sentiments and emotions evoked with the creation of each sequence are revealed in the color palettes of ‘as above I-IV’ that range from the fiery burnished oranges and bronzes of the igneous cosmological realm of ‘as above I’ to the ‘soft pinks, regenerative greens and yellows of ‘as above IV’. 

Recurring fragments of the ‘Ohm’ character, that is both a primordial sound and a visual symbol, punctuate the ultramarine and cinnabar surfaces of the series ‘as above ohm’. ‘Ohm’ is at once a humming and droning sound, sometimes known as ‘the sound of the universe’, and for many Eastern philosophies is a visual symbol that ‘represents the divine within us’. The form is embraced by the artist in recognition of the meditative and transformative state both during creation and with breathing.

Works of art are reflective of an artist’s Intentions, vision and experiences. They are a form of storytelling. Gathered within the charismatic space within the gallery is a grouping of ‘artifacts’; staffs or story poles, symbolic of an evolutionary path or a form of pilgrimage. Each is layered with accumulations of wax imbedded with fragments of shell and crystal, or is strung with talismanic found objects. These same materials, shell, crystal and glass are often integrated into Noula’s mosaics, another art form from her extended practice. 

The ritual objects, which Noula titles ’spirit sticks’, are seemingly to support a quest or path to be taken in both a spiritual and physical or a metaphorical sense. They are at once symbolic of a universal search and the artist’s own personal quest for meaning; particularly poignant and cathartic for the artist following the recent death of her mother. Many of the embellishments, skeletal shell fragments, feathers, threads, glass ‘eyes’ and markings that resemble cyphers for life and light from their Greek heritage acknowledge their shared heritage and stories.

A proposed summation body of work, Exhale, will close the trilogy as signaled by the artist in her earlier observation: “… it occurs to me that though Breathing Space can be captured, it cannot be contained. Just like breathing – this gift of life dies the moment we capture it. We exhale moments after we inhale. Life starts and ends in these moments.” 

Barbara Dowse

Curator