Almine Rech Brussels is pleased to announce Maps, Gerasimos Floratos' second solo exhibition with the gallery.
A map is an abstract rendering of space that stands flat. It differs drastically from the reliefs and territories it refers to; it’s a coded cultural marker that you need to learn to read in order to navigate.
Even though Gerasimos Floratos paintings are figurative, they are more like landscapes. Floratos is a New Yorker. His work is entropic, like a psycho-geographical translation of the city. He was born and still inhabits the center of the center—Times Square (which is actually not square, but more twisted).
The vivid colors of his confronting figures remind of the extreme experiences that define NYC. Floratos does not paint crowds per se. One or two characters appear on each painting—but their presence is reminiscent of passersby encounters. Some look down, others look sideways, some look up; they could be among the hundreds of people you cross every day in hectic neighborhoods. They also bring to mind advertising billboards and huge LED screens: all this cacophonic anarchy containing both aggression and poetry.
- Anne Dressen, Curator, Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris.