JANNIS VARELAS (b. 1977, Athens, Greece) lives and works in Athens and Vienna.
Jannis Varelas works primarily with a kind of loose-form collage that is grounded in the practice of drawing. His works on paper offer an alternative form of representational space, created from found image sources, and subjected to a process of free-form associative composition using pencil and gouache. The glimpses of photographic image that are embedded within the drawings, and contain references to news reportage, pornography or lifestyle magazines seem to have served as multiple starting points for a process of creative transformation. In earlier works made between 2004-05, the artist used pencil, tape and charcoal to create life-sized drawings. In his recent body of work he has combined these drawings with sculptural installations.
Varelas recent solo exhibitions include the Krinzinger Projekte, Vienna (2007). He has also participated in group exhibitions in Athens, London, Copenhagen, and Vienna. This will be the first time his work has been shown in the U.S.
Varelas is represented by the Breeder in Athens and Galerie Krinziger in Vienna.