The artwork depicts a close-up of a person's upper body, with the focus on a white t-shirt featuring the large text "MARIA". The overall composition is minimalist, centered on the t-shirt and the person's arm adorned with a tattoo. The colors used are primarily white and black, creating a stark contrast that highlights the bold typography and the tattoo's intricate pattern. The realistic rendering of the fabric and the tattoo suggests a hyper-realistic painting style, emphasizing the subject's physical presence. The artwork likely comments on themes of identity, self-expression, and the role of branding in contemporary culture. ...
Maria Joannou paints everyday intimacies with a quiet sense of detachment, creating figures that balance the abstract and the iconic while remaining grounded in physical reality. Her bodies carry weight, shadow, and presence, conveying the fullness of life without resorting to photorealism. Faces occasionally appear, but each figure retains its individuality, radiating a subtle gravitas that speaks to lived experience and the soul embedded in flesh.
Her practice extends beyond painting into sculpture and installation, exploring how material and form can reflect memory, identity, and cultural narratives. Surfaces are layered, disrupted, or reconfigured, emphasizing fragility, transformation, and resilience. Joannou’s works operate in the space between permanence and change, inviting viewers to pause and engage with both the intimate and the symbolic.
Central to her approach is the intersection of personal and collective histories. By reworking familiar forms and stripping back overt signifiers, she creates spaces that encourage reflection on identity, belonging, and the tension between visibility and erasure. Joannou’s art transforms everyday gestures into meditations on presence, connection, and the subtle complexities of human experience. ...
The Breeder gallery was formed organically from The Breeder magazine due to the need of Athenian artists to promote international dialogue. Over the last 20 years The Breeder has been a pioneer in the development of the contemporary art scene in Athens. They show art that is relevant to our times and promote a select group of Greek artists on the global arena while also showing cutting edge international artists. The Breeder serves as a link that connects cultures and supports a deeper exchange. They support their community by providing an active platform for the exchange of ideas and ideals. In 2019 they introduced The Breeder Open Studio initiative, where the gallery is available to invited artists prior to their show. Working onsite the artists have the opportunity to engage with the audience in more substantial ways. Invited artists of the Breeder Open studio, include Ariana Papademetropoulos, Chioma Ebinama, Joy Labinjo, Ekene Stanley Emecheta, Victor Ubah, Barry Yusufu and Adegboyega Adesina. ...
