Jannis Varelas

Jannis Varelas lives and works in Athens and Vienna. In his artistic practice he alternates freely between drawing, collage, video and sculpture. His monumental drawings in collage technique feature hybrid figures, a mixture of man, woman and beast.
He challenges the social norms that classify us and divide us into categories. Varela’s own characters are paradoxical and impossible to define, revealing what it is like to be an alien who cannot fit into the mould for gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity or religion. He ceaselessly poses questions concerning the nature of mankind, how we exist in a world were so many are governed by so few.

In his video works Jane’s Poem and the subsequent Solange’s Dream, Varelas uses a narrative technique from the theatre - in this case from the so-called absurd theatre, which was introduced by a few playwrights after the Second World War. The works are based on Jean Genet’s play Les Bonnes (The Maids), written in 1945 and performed for the first time in 1947. This is a story of suppressed violence, in which two maids play mistress and servant when the head of the household, Madame, is away. The story in the video Jane’s Poem is taken from the final scene of the drama, and the role of the maid Solange is played by a puppet. The voice belongs to Glenda Jackson, who played the part in the film version of The Maids, directed by Christopher Miles (1975). It includes Solange’s tragic and confused monologue just after she has killed her sister Claire and Madame. The monologue deals with the battle between domination and subordination, the relationship between the suppressed and the suppressor. Solange’s Dream is a representation of the main character’s nightmare. We see someone who is suffering under a personal conflict and is forced to face her conscience.
Courtesy The Breeder, Athens
www.thebreedersystem.com/artist.php?ArtistID=7