Lot 615 D

Joannis Avramidis had already set himself the artistic goal to create an absolute objective figurative form during his academic training at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, where he studied sculpture under Fritz Wotruba. He wanted to refrain from any individual perspective in order to find a universally valid solution. In 1957, based on the sculptures and drawings that he created during his studies, he succeeded in elaborating a concept according to which the figure is established from the inside out, so to speak, according to the principles of an ancient column. The artist constructs the volume of the figure on the basis of a vertical axis by means of layered horizontal circular arcs made of aluminium sheets of various radii. The thus predefined structure is eventually filled out with plaster in order to serve as a mould for the bronze cast.
The static, self-contained figures that Avramidis creates according to this principle do not orient themselves according to concrete anatomical laws copied from nature, but arise in a purely constructive action. They are always visible from all sides and have an astounding variety of shapes. 'I have, for example, constructed a figure according to the mathematical principle of spherical sections, from which I considered myself almost excluded as an artist. Nevertheless, the spontaneous and unexpected aspects are important for the development of a shape. I am often surprised by the result myself when I create a new character.' Michael Semff, Avramidis. Skulptur und Zeichnung, Munich 2005, p. 76)
Despite being completely abstract, clear reminiscences of the human figure can be ascertained in the harmonious, gently rounded volume - figurativeness and abstraction merge with each other.

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