Lives in London, Athens, Los Angeles
Website http://www.ventourakis.co.uk
How do you describe your own art practice?
I am mainly interested in misconceptions and assumptions. Small paradoxes and apparent empty gestures that I try to interpret and manipulate. Most of my work is photo-based, and almost all of my work is two-dimensional. The materiality of the image is important for me, but also the different ways that images materialise.
What was your first experience with art?
My whole family is working with or around the arts, so I had exposure from a very young age. However, I never imagined that I would end up working as an artist. I always thought and believed that I would become an architect. Or that I would work in cinema. I ended up doing something in between the two!
C-Type Print 150x120cm , EDITION of 3
What is your greatest source of inspiration?
My interaction with people I trust. Music. Cinema. The news. The work of other artists is also important and I follow the developments of the art world, but I would not say that I am using what I find out in the art world as inspiration material. It’s more of a research material.
Vinyl Print 3-8 Meters
What do you need in order to create your work?
Quiet space. I really need to be able to be on my own for at least a large part of the production of my work. That is an essential element for me. Equipment wise: something that captures images. And that can be anything.
81x101cm C-Type Print
Courtesy of the artist and WUNDERKAMMER
What are you working on at the moment?
I am finishing up the final details for a group exhibition in Belfast, at The MAC. Furthermore I am scanning and working on images from my time at the ISSP Residency in Latvia, and simultaneously on a separate project in Croatia with Slobodne Veze (Motel Trogir). Also on the next steps of a project I did in collaboration with the New Museum and Clocktower Radio during a residency program in Athens called “IDEAS CITY”. And I am preparing a new body of work that I can’t reveal much about yet!
What work or artist has most recently surprised you?
Paul Hutchinson. He is a friend and we studied together, but I was truly surprised with the amount and quality of the work that he has been producing in the past 2 years.
Material : C-Type Print - Matte Mounted and Framed (Archival)
