Invented Cities

Sprawl painting (in Athens)

Urban planning appears unable to interfere both into the existing structure or into the dynamics of society. A new metropolitan phenomenon, has given rise to novel interpretations of the contemporary city. The city becomes an uncontrollable dynamic situation, where units are devoured by the whole. Architects, planners and governments become irrelevant: The city appears as a living organism which evolves independently. Athens, a striking example of an uncontrollable city, remain in a constant state of mutation.

The impact of globalization becomes most intense in the periphery. The world is changing. The planet becomes an immense, continuous urban sprawl of incessant habitation, either at american-style suburban homes or in shanty towns.

Nomadic chaos | Nomadic Painting

"Imaginary Metropolises" consists of a dense stratigraphy which is created by the juxtaposition of geometric, gestural, representative, narrative, verbal and abstract elements. Those Layers compose a compact whole where it becomes (very) difficult to discern singular ingredients.

Eleanna Martinou's painting depicts the condition of habitat in our time, one of infinite urban landscape, informal construction, nomadism and pointless drift. Dense layers of color which contain vertiginal fragmented images of the Contemporary Metropolis, violent gestures on the canvas and a narrativity reminiscent of science fiction constitute the artistic place and manner.