N i c o l a s    V l a v i a n o s                                                        Hedy O'Beil
New York, 1985

While small in scale, these stainless steel sculptures by Nicolas Vlavianos exist as 20th-century monuments to industry and technology. Similar to the

precision of machines, they are constructed impeccably so that part locks into part in a compact solid package. Made of sheets of steel, cut, bent and welded, the forms are bolted together for eternity. In fact, the pieces contain that aspect of timelessness, of icons that will exist forever as homages to our machine age.

Shiny-smooth, mirror-reflecting surfaces are frontal. Generally, they hold within the body of their geometricized form a mass of organic shapes placed centrally. Housed in this way, the clusters of discs or rods associate with the organic. In spite of the dominant sense of the work as rigid and strong, there is another component which makes for a more complete wholeness — the modifying, softening part.

One can perceive these superbly crafted sculptures as metaphors for the human being, as symbols of male and female; of the intellectual, the geometric, and its opposite but complementary, the poetic and the organic. The strength of the work, the emphasis on craft, is further enhanced by the way the planes of the forms are riveted together. Bolts are purposefully exposed and exist both as evidence of process (the making of the art) and as part of the formal design. While abstract, some of the sculptures refer to landscape. In one such, the open interior of the piece with its biomorphic shape was made rough and furrowed, darkened to resemble the earth. From this opening, a three-dimensional fragment emerged, adding a deeper spatial quality.

The formal theme of open and closed spaces is carried throughout most of the work. In one piece, a profusion of spaghetti-like rods poured out of the center, like entrails within the human torso. Elsewhere, within a rectangular column, a horizontal row of irregular-sized discs was compacted in the center. Here a sense of mystery and entombment was suggested, perhaps a ritual presentation of a magic amulet. In the center, from top to bottom, a crack slithered down the gray steel, its edges held firmly in place by small bolts carefully placed in the construction.

Within those sculptures that demonstrate both power and strength, the humanizing element is present in a modified, subtle way. There is no ornamentation here, no entertainment, only what is required to make the statement. Vlavianos shows that he is a master craftsman while at the same time portraying the qualities of human experience within a tough, rigorous abstract language.

Hedy O’Beil
New York, 1985