Young Cypriot artist Orestis Lazouras has just opened his new solo show at the exhibition space of ERGO Collective in Petralona, Athens. Born in 1994, Lazouras is a sculptor interested in different aspects of Cypriot nostalgia and identity, often incorporating everyday objects and clothing that capture a certain je ne sais quoi of Cypriot pop culture from the end of the previous century. His current exhibition is titled Club Versus, after a notorious nightclub in Cyprus from the 2000s, and is the result of a short residency at ERGO Collective during November 2021. Sculptures on the floor are imagined as "melting bodies" illuminated by strobe lights and a swarm of leather belts are standing up like snakes, dancing perhaps to a hypothetical night club soundtrack . Meanwhile, a plastic chair covered in blood-red fabric and abstract paintings hanging in the corners of the space are aiming, according to the press release, to "achieve an oxymoronic state", where the layering of pigments is also a process of "depigmenting experiences". A performance by Kim Shisha, Orestis Lazouras's DJ alias, took place at the exhibition on the opening night.
