Artists' Profile

Athens-born, London based artist/ photographer/ performace artist, Stav B bases her work on notions of repetition, expansion, reflection, distortion, obsession, fetishism and voyeurism. To orchestrate a volume of work, she uses fragments of the body: (for now) the feet: Feet in high heels in various (ambiguous) positions in various locations (where heels are not supposed to be), indoors, outdoors, staircases, transitional spaces, vehicles, rough-surfaced floors. An obsessional body of images incorporating (cinematic) narrative, emotion, evocation, atmosphere and sex, which opt to unravel identity via theatricality and masquerade; a repetitive still (and at times, moving) performance. An odd and perverse game of the 'I'.

This is a continuous progress/ process of the thematic infinitum: The still becomes the slide, the slide becomes the filmic loop, the film becomes the live act, the actual representation, the theatrical narrative: the performance.

Performative monologues, spectacular, interactive, moody, abstract, tragic and humorous…

… ‘little by little, drop by drop, the glass of my being will fill one day, ready to drink, to devour, to enjoy, to kill completely…'.
Ambiguous and appropriate props (flowers and petals, glitter, feathers, dolls, swings and boxes, lights and unfamiliar/ familiar sounds) add to the manifestation of the spectacles and most importantly, the verbal interpretation of the soul and the mind: The spoken word, the poem, the prose. Always close to the bone and to guide her back to the still narrative, a perfect (almost) circle.

'A consistent theme within Stav's work concerns the self-referential aspect of art (art about art). This began with the deliberate de-aesthetising of established forms, suggesting it was possible to augment an original and recognisable style. However, Stav's present approach adopts the opposite strategy - the careful manipulation of proportion combined with the intrinsic qualities of glass proffer a seductive inducement for the spectator to enjoy perceptual as well as theoretical considerations. The structure of the work is built on a conspicuously 'rational' model for visual display whilst the disruption inherent in the reflective and refractive properties of glass make the work mercurial, conditioned by the surrounding light, movement, etc. These phenomena frequently transcend the rational aspect of the work and create a fetishistic dimension. The balance remains, however, since beyond the seduction a question remains concerning the rhetoric of display itself, framed within the conventions of the art exhibition'.

Rob Prewett - Head of Sculpture, Camberwell College of Arts.

'En - tout - cas' by Stav B. is a sequence of three sprinters' hurdles, the heights adjusted, diminishing as they receded, creating a subtle perspectival illusion. Relocating them in an interior space rendered these qualities useless. Tempting as it may have been to take a running jump, there was insufficient room for a decent run up to clear the first hurdle and even if by some supreme feat of athleticism it had been possible, the second and third hurdles followed on so closely as to make it futile'.

Rob Kesseler - Untitled Magazine.