Dragons Drones , 2017-2019
150 x 200 cm (h x w)
hand woven rug, sheep wool

Unique variations 2 + 1 a.p.
Private Collection.
Courtesy the artists and Kalfayan Galleries, Athens - Thessaloniki

Kalos&Klio is an artist duo born in Thessaloniki, Greece, where they live and work. The pair has joined forces, since 2005 and operates in a complementary fashion, considering the process of working as one a path more intriguing. Studies: Klio Tantalidis: Digital Arts (MF, scholarship), The University of Chicago, USA; Painting (BFA, summa cum laude), Hanze University, Groningen, NL; Printmaking (MA), Governors’ State University, Chicago, USA . Christos Kalos : Photography (BA), ESP, School of Photography, Thessaloniki, GR; Painting (BA), Boston College, USA. They have exhibited in Greece and abroad. Current solo show: ‘On the Tapis – Weaves of Democracy’, Kalfayan Galleries, Athens. Upcoming show include: «SYMBOLS & Iconic Ruins», National Museum of Contemorary Art, Athens.The signature visual language of Kalos&Klio expands in a variety of forms, printed media, sculpture and installation and explores materials, methods and concepts that often shift the boundaries between high and low art, creating artworks that are stunning for their multifaceted complexity. Kalos&Klio  post-pop, artworks examine a wide range of subjects related to contemporary culture, history politics and  language, these are essential in determining the form of the work. Their works often undertake a critical stance to unconventional subject matters and although they devise them to appear as aesthetically pleasing, they are nevertheless quite profound.

The series of Kalos&Klio titled ‘On the Tapis | Weaves of Democracy’ consists of hand-woven rugs and textiles. The sheep wool rugs and cotton textiles are hand knotted on traditional looms, produced at the Rizarios Embroidery School for girls, in the traditional village of Monodendri, Zagorochoria, Greece. Tibetian yak wool rugs of larger size are produced using traditional weaving methods in Nepal at the workshops of Tufenkian Artisan Carpets. The works are posing questions on current global crisis of Democracy, through the prism of human rights, freedom, equality and unity, by looking at debate issues on critical social and political themes such as oppression, immigration, freedom of movement.

On Kalos & Klio handmade rugs and textiles, archetypal symbols of Eastern and Western folklore art reappear transformed into symbols of contemporary culture, such as socialtograms, logos, anime or even movie characters. The Uroboros, for example, is transformed into the internet restart and recycle icon, the little bird (sparrow, canary) is transformed into the Twitter icon, Melusina into the Starbucks logo, the medieval dragons are transformed into drones, ancient theatrical masks into emojis.

The word Textus comes from Latin and literally means ‘weaving words’. In Greek the word weave has its root in ‘φαίνω’(faíno)which means‘reveal’. With their works, Kalos & Klio reveal the evils of contemporary socio-political reality. Artists weave a colorful, multi-layered and paradoxical universe, where traditional iconography meets the language of social media and the internet. With caustic and apt humor, the handmade carpets and textiles of Kalos & Klio denounce the crisis of the concept of Democracy worldwide.

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