Lydia Venieri, Anastasia Aukeman & Michael Skafidas: Theogony

Marking the publication of Theogony (Charta), Athens-born artist Lydia Venieri, art historian Anastasia Aukeman and writer and reporter Michael Skafidas discuss the book and the work of this prolific artist. The three gathered at The New York Public Library on May 25, 2011 as a part of their series An Art Book. Host Arezoo Moseni began the event with a brief introduction, followed by a screening of Venieri's most recent video art project The Dolphin Conspiracy. Afterwards, the three discuss in depth Venieri’s style, common themes in her work, and how it all came about.

Lydia Venieri erects entire mythologies and symbolic systems from the already phantasmagoric world of news media. Her stories are played out using dolls and childlike imagery to counter media dementia, in painting, drawing, photography, video and the internet. Theogony explicates Venieri's universe surveying two decades of work; work of one of the most celebrated and visionary Greek artists of our time.

This event took place on the occasion of Venieri's Stux Gallery retrospective exhibition. The Last Conflict featured a new series of satin digital color photographs Planetic Exodus and highlights of her prolific oeuvre including pieces from the magical forest of Hibernation; The Dolphin Conspiracy video and a sculptural installation created with her bubble sculptures, fauna and tree debris.

In its second season the program series An Art Book, initiated and organized by Arezoo Moseni, is a celebration of the essential importance and beauty of art books. The events showcase book presentations and discussions by world renowned and emerging artists, critics, curators, designers, historians and writers.

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