Art Cologne with Kris Lemsalu & Sevina Tzanou

Kris Lemsalu and Sevina Tzanou
Temnikova & Kasela gallery at Art Cologne 2024, booth N006 7–10 November 2024
 
At Art Cologne 2024, Temnikova & Kasela presents a duo booth by Kris Lemsalu and Sevina Tzanou. 

In their work, both Lemsalu and Tzanou discerningly explore existential themes such as life and death, being and longing, and complexities of belonging. In addition to their evidently specific attention to colour and an apparent appreciation for traditional media, a special kind of attentiveness to the melodrama of human existence could be seen as the main binding force between their works on display here.
 
Kris Lemsalu presents a large-scale free-standing ceramic and mixed media sculpture Tour of Life, which explores profound questions about life, time, and the finite nature of one’s existence on Earth. The work’s title is a reference to musician Kate Bush’s first concert tour. The work was initially produced in Vienna in 2012, and was previously titled The Triumph of Vegetation Is Total, a quote from the novel The Map and the Territory by Michel Houellebecq. Since then, the work has undergone renovation and a thorough transformation. The spiral motif of the body is a reference to an overall circular structure of life. The use of contrasting opposites, like squared wheels and hands in a flying motion, seem to cancel each other out and bring everything to stand still.
 
Lemsalu also introduces Mum the Gem, a new series of smaller-scale porcelain pieces, made in collaboration with her mother, Margit Lemsalu. Mum the Gem is a kind of totemic object – as a cast from her mother's feet, it represents movement as well as being grounded. The tongue is a recurring element in Lemsalu’s work, symbolizing, on one hand, the goddess Kali, while at the same time representing a means of communication in general. In Chinese medicine the tongue reflects the condition of one's body; of one’s health. The eye on the tip of the tongue symbolizes seeing, protecting, and personal enlightenment. A textile flower made by her mother represents love and growth.
 
Sevina Tzanou engages in this dialogue with a series of paintings that are based on notes and sketches that she recorded during her stay in Athens, where she spent the summer caring for elderly family members. During that time, her grandfather suffered an accident that took away much of his clarity and his ability to connect with the world. Like many men in her family, he was a sailor, and they shared an understanding of solitude as well as being far from home. To bridge this distance, Tzanou tried to connect with him through his favourite music. By referencing Greek folk memorabilia, music, and art, Tzanou weaves these influences into melodramatic scenes that explore notions of identity. She reflects on her twelve years of migration and on her feelings of alienation, while navigating through clichés and expectations in relation to her heritage, while, at the same time, processing a deep sense of heimweh — that longing for home – influenced also by a satirical perception of the golden era of Greek cinema.
 
In her self-portraits, Tzanou plays with reducing herself to a single aspect of her identity, such as a laterna – the old barrel organ that keeps repeating the same song, once it has been wound up – thus recreating familiar clichés and using clear symbols to help her communicate both within Greece and beyond.

Kris Lemsalu (b. 1985) is an artist based in New York and Tallinn. Having studied ceramics, Lemsalu often experiments with traditional techniques to create multilayered works. Her staged installations combine delicate porcelain sculptures cast as animal and human body parts or objects of clothing with found natural materials like fur, leather, or wool. These can act as self-sufficient narratives, or alternatively as a stage for Lemsalu’s performances, the sculptures sometimes becoming a part of her costumes and props. For her recent works, the artist collaborated with musicians adding a further element to her performances.
 
She studied at the Estonian Academy of Arts, Tallinn; Danmarks Designskole, Copenhagen; and Academy of Fine Arts, Vienna. Lemsalu’s recent exhibitions include "On the Absurd Drama That is Also Life", Moderna Museet (2024), Stockholm, Sweden, "Holly Hell Ooo", Magazin 4, Bregenz, Austria (2024); "One foot in gravy", Margot Samel, New York (2024); "Chará", Belvedere 21, Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna, Austria (2024); "Donatella", Tartu Art Museum, Tartu, Estonia (2024); "Rinky Dink Babe", Kendall Koppe, Glasgow, UK (2022); "Angels Gone Pissing", Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn (2022), Vienna; "Peace @ 295 Church Street", Margot Samel Gallery, New York (2022); "Love Stories", Meyer Kainer, Vienna (2022); "A Snail's Tale" with Kyp Malone, High Line Art, New York (2021);  "It's a Family Affair" with Kyp Malone, Hunt Kastner, Prague (2021); "Going Going" with Kyp Malone, Den Frie, Copenhagen (2020); "Love Song Sing-Along", with Kyp Malone, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2020); Estonian Pavilion, 58th Venice Biennial (2019); "Keys Open Doors", Secession, Vienna (2018); "4LIFE", Goldsmiths Centre for Contemporary Art, London ( 2018); “There and Back Again”, group show curated by Kati Kivinen and Saara Hacklin, Kiasma, Helsinki (2018); “The Wild Ones”, Koppe Astner, Glasgow (2017 2018); "Steps to Aeration", group show curated by Sarah McCrory, Tanya Leighton, Berlin; CONDO London, with Josh Faught, Koppe Astner hosted at Sadie Coles (2017); “The Hierophant”, group show curated by Aaron Moulton, Galeria Nicodim, Bucharest (2017); “Metamorphosis”, group show curated by Zdenek Felix, KAI 10 / Arthena Foundation, Düsseldorf, Galerie Guido W. Baudach, Berlin, and Galerie SVIT, Prague (2017); “Aftermieter”, group show curated by Veit Loers, Haus Mödrath – Räume für Kunst, Kerpen (2017); “Afternoon Tear Drinker”, curated by Hemma Schmutz, Kunstraum Lakeside, Klagenfurt (2016); “Beauty and the Beast”, with Tiit Pääsuke, curated by Tamara Luuk, Tallinn Art Hall, Tallinn (2016).
 
Sevina Tzanou (b. 1994, Athens, lives and works between Bonn and Athens) collapses bodies, space, and time in her painting process. Through an engagement with Burlesque, drama, and drag communities she explores the subjectivity of the femme – a hyper-feminine performance which celebrates and annunciates the queer characteristics of femininity. Through a hypervisualization of femininity, Tzanou’s work, and notions of the femme, call attention to the very constructed nature of femininity and reclaim that construction with all its glossy, frilly, rich characteristics inherent in its deployment.
 
Tzanou studied in Düsseldorf under Katharina Grosse, Eberhard Havekost and Yesim Akdeniz. Her most recent solo and group exhibitions include:
 Pink October, Mana foundation, Athens, Greece (2024), Unapologetic WomXn, Palazzo Bembo, Venice (2024); The great Disastress, Kendall Koppe, Glasgow (2023); FinalFantasy, Temnikova & Kasela Gallery, Tallinn (2023); Spikes that bite, Margot Samel, New York (2023); Parties I am not Invited to, Robert Grunenberg, Berlin (2022). She has performed at Kunstmuseum Bonn, Bonn and Kai Art Center, Tallinn (both 2023). 

Gallery's participation at Art Cologne was co-funded by European Union and the Estonian Contemporary Art Development Center.