2024-2025
I Lost My Shoe in The Jungle, 2025, Oil on canvas, Diptych, 170 x 150 cm (each)
MAMAS, 2025, Oil on canvas , 150 x 200 cm
IN THE CITY, 2025, TOD'S Collaboration, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 cm
Noo Yawk Bootey, 2024, Oil on wood, 30 X 30 cm
Running Into a Friend, 2024, Oil on wood, 30 X 30 cm
Exarcheia Golden Shower, 2025, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
Trouble Man, 2025, oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm
At the Gallery, 2025, TOD'S Collaboration, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 cm
Private Room, 2024, oil on linen, 22 X 30 cm
Window Shopping, 2025
TOD'S Collaboration, oil on canvas, 60x70 cm
Show Time, 2025, Oil on linen, 27 x 35 cm
Rodeo, 2024, oil on linen, 22 x 30 cm
2020-2023
ΤΕΧΝΗ
(Athens 2024)
Oil on canvas
150 x 133 cm
PEACE
(Athens 2024)
oil on canvas
120 x 90 cm
FOLLOWERS No1
Athens 2024)
Oil on canvas
60 x 60 cm
EMERGING FEMALE ARTIST
(Athens 2023)
Oil on linen
40 x 31 cm
CROWD
(Athens 2023)
Oil on linen
40 x 31 cm
COSMOS
(Athens 2024)
Oil on linen
55 x 38 cm
YOUR'S TRULY
(Athens 2024)
Oil on canvas
170 x 120 cm
HISTORY TEACHER
(Athens 2023)
Oil on canvas
180 x 120 cm
FANTASY
(Paris 2023)
Oil on linen
30 x 24 cm
CROP TOP
(Paris 2023)
Oil on linen
30 x 24 cm
ENLIGHTENED
(Paris 2023)
Oil on linen
30 x 24 cm
MAGNA MATER - VOLCANO WOMAN
(Paris 2023)
Oil on linen
41 x 33 cm
DESIRE
(Paris 2023)
Oil on linen
30 x 24 cm
LADY
(Paris 2023)
oil on linen
24 x 19 cm
MAGNA MATER - FOREST BY THE LAKE
(Paris 2023)
Oil on linen
41 x 33 cm
WHEN I LOOK THEM IN THE EYE
(Paris 2023)
Oil on linen
30 x 24 cm
MADAME AND STEVE
(Paris 2023)
Diptych - Oil on linen
30 x 24 cm (each) - dimensions variable
YOUTH
(Paris 2023)
oil on linen
24 x 19 cm
RUTH
(Paris 2023)
oil on linen
30 x 24 cm
SPECTATORS
(Athens 2023)
Diptych - oil on linen
140 x 160 cm (each) dimensions variable
THOUGHTS
(Athens 2023)
oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm
FEELINGS
(Athens 2023),
oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm
DESIRES
(Athens 2023)
oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm
VISIONS
(Athens 2023)
oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm
FAITH
(Athens 2023)
oil on canvas
70 x 50 cm
OVER IT
(Athens 2023)
oil on canvas
60 X 60 cm
MAKE OVER
(Athens 2023)
oil on canvas
60 X 60 cm
SERIOUS DECISION
(New York 2022)
oil on canvas
127 x 88 cm
LOFRAGE
(Athens 2023)
Oil and gold leaf on canvas
120 × 90 cm
INNER WARMTH
(Athens 2022)
Charcoal on Paper
50 x 30 cm
PATHOS
(Athens 2022)
oil on linen
29 x 22 cm
NOW I'M READY
(New York 2022)
Oil on linen
25 x 20 cm
IT'S BEEN ON MY MIND
(New York 2022)
Oil on linen
25 x 20 cm
LITTLE PRAYER
(New York 2022)
oil on wood panel
80 x 55 cm
FINDING LIGHT IN DARKNESS No1
(Athens 2022)
Charcoal on Paper
50 x 30 cm
WOMAN
(Athens 2022)
oil on linen
120 x 80 cm
PERSERVERENCE
(Athens 2022)
oil on linen
85 x 60 cm
LETTER TO MY FUTURE SELF
(New York 2022)
Oil on wood panel
33 x 24 cm
IT'S ABOUT TIME
(New York 2022)
Oil on linen
25 x 20 cm
DIVORCE
(New York 2021)
Oil on linen, handmade wooden frame
30 x 40 cm
OBSESSIVE OBSERVATION
(New York 2021)
Oil on linen, handmade wooden frame
27 x 35 cm / 11 x 14 inches
DIVORCE
(New York 2021)
Oil on linen, handmade wooden frame
30 x 40 cm
OBSESSIVE OBSERVATION
(New York 2021)
Oil on linen, handmade wooden frame
27 x 35 cm / 11 x 14 inches
2016-2019
Been To Places, Seen Some Faces
Viktoria Fasianou Gallery February 2025
Midnight City Blues
2025, oil on Yuta, 150 x 150 cm
The exhibition features a new series of works through which the viewer is invited into a journey across painterly spaces and times. An urban wandering of the imagination unfolds through dynamic compositions of bustling city streets and figures that are sometimes discernible and, at other times fade into the landscape. The works in the exhibition explore the familiar and, perhaps, enigmatic "now", while at the same time reaching towards a personal ideal “after". The exhibition is accompanied by a text by the author Makis Malafekas, who mentions:
In the world-enigma, the issue is not the “keys”. The allure of the elliptical question, the power of the abstract formulation, of the sharp rhyme, leaves the passing observer completely indifferent—just as it leaves the “answer” itself indifferent. The world-enigma cannot be explained or deciphered. It can only unfold its images and make you, from time to time, doubt: how does what I see differ from “reality”? Everything “here” seems to exist, but what is not “here”?
In this peculiar and insightful visual treatise on the contemporary Metaphysical, Kyveli Zoi embarks on a fundamentally new iconography of the world-enigma, never claiming to hold the answers or the keys. The solo exhibition Been to Places, Seen Some Faces—a paraphrase of a lyric by Marvin Gaye from what he called his “most honest” song (“Trouble Man,” 1972)—speaks of spaces and faces that demarcate social paths, cover experiential distances, and outline identity trajectories around the one and central question of our over-saturated world with events, images, and stimuli: what is missing? De Chirico, raised in his own phantasmagoric Belle Époque, approached the issue with constant returns to the same landscape, invoking the seemingly empty, the expectation of an arrival, or even the definitive acceptance that this arrival will never take place. Kyvèli tackles the character of contemporary phantasmagoria through the motif of public activity and its external identity features—sometimes signaling “diversity” and other times “uniformity”.
-Makis Malafekas
Moonlight on a Lunar Landscape
2025, oil on Yuta, 150 x 150 cm
In Crisis Comes Hope
2024, oil on linen, 100 × 188 cm
Sea of People, 2024, Oil on wood, 20 x 20 cm
Midnight in Manhattan, 2024, Oil on wood, 20 x 20 cm
Curated Diversity, 2024, Oil on wood, 20 x 20 cm
Πατησίων 251, 2024, Oil on canvas, 140 x 140 cm
High Society, 2024, Oil on canvas, 140 x 140 cm
Song, 2024, Oil on wood, 20 x 20 cm
Nowhere Man the World is at your Command
2024, Oil on linen, 150 x 150 cm
Busy Block
2024, Oil on canvas, 175 x 190 cm
Shoe Shop
acappella Gallery 27 september - 11 november 2024
Magic Mule, 2024 bisque ceramic, acrylic paint, stone glaze , size 40
NEW YAWKAS
2024, Oil on linen, 40 x 50 cm
Private Art Collection
2024, Oil on linen, 22 x 30 cm
Tennis Shoes
2024, Oil on linen, 22 x 30 cm
A Starting Point For An Exploration
Made for dancing, to impress your conversation partner, for sports, to flirt, to take the trash out, to increase your height, to reveal your aspirations sometimes to the point of embarrassment… Maybe shoes are just shoes - or sometimes they become protagonists. In the words of Kyvèli Zoi, the series presented could be viewed as a romantic joke. A playful invitation to peek inside the lives of their beholders, whether from real life situations or imaginary ones. Shoes as a subject in art have been analyzed before. Heidegger famously dissected Van Gogh’s 1886 painting of worndown boots, imbuing them with vivid social commentary. Other philosophers (such as Shapiro and Derrida) couldn’t help themselves but to follow up and offer their own musings on the subject: what could be extrapolated from a seemingly simple subject that has been rendered an unusual importance through painting? In Zoi’s case, if the shoes are the immediate ‘attention grabbers’ in all their colorful forms and offer obvious associations as to their intended use, they also seem to be offering an invitation to take a closer look at the background of each scene. Van Gogh, Warhol, Guston, etc. have portrayed shoes as main characters, and they have been analyzed as such (perhaps to the point of exhaustion). Zoi’s shoes are merely a starting point for an exploration. The background becomes the main event. Are we on the streets of New York rushing? Or having an intimate conversation ‘en deux’ in a gallery setting? Why are there boots on a table, to make a drunk announcement or to sing the night away? Who are the boots in the spotlight talking to, or is it a performance? Is a dangerously close couple in a cropped scene embracing, whispering, or fighting? The intriguing part is the exploration of space, the setting of a scene. Making the assumptions becomes the game of the show, Zoi offering teasing snippets of the lively scenes without losing a certain magic of ambiguity. Perhaps each scene deserves some sort of musical accompaniment, a stylized odyssey through different genres - groovy disco for the glittery dance scene, heavy rebetiko for our table dancer, hip hop on the way to the subway etc. We might be left to playfully guess about the specifics, yet the exuberant celebration of colorful protagonists and their possible interactions make a common thread throughout the show and continue Zoi’s exploration of elevating the everyday into a cause worthy of everyone’s attention. Once we have had our share of gazing and peeking, what we are left with might be the vibrant ceramics set within the actual space - real, palpable reminders of the joy each scene on the walls seem to be radiating. Perhaps a savvy contemporary analysis in the venerable tradition of examining ‘the shoe’ as a subject should be made about those.
- Tim Battelino
Tuesday Morning on the Stoop Before Going to Work
2024, Oil on linen, 22 x 30 cm
Modern Art Collection
2024, Oil on linen, 22 x 30 cm
Roxanne, 2024, bisque ceramic, acrylic paint, stone glaze
Disco Groovalos, 2024, bisque ceramic, acrylic paint, glitter, stone glaze
Gallerist Shoes, 2024, oil on linen, 27 x 35 cm
Studio in Brooklyn, 2024, oil on linen, 22 x 30 cm
Museum Goers, 2024, oil on linen, 27 x 35 cm
At Home, 2024, oil on linen, 27 x 35 cm
Greek Dancer, 2024 bisque ceramic, acrylic paint, stone glaze, 2024, bisque ceramic, acrylic paint, stone glaze
Staying Alive, 2024, oil on linen, 27 x 35 cm
Hippy Heels, 2024, bisque ceramic, acrylic paint, stone glaze
More Disco Please, 2024, oil on linen, 27 x 35 cm
Youth
2023, oil on linen, 24x 18 cm
Kyvèli Zoi’s paintings are often details. Fragments of bodies, trimmed as if looking close enough to try and see through the images and into the very essence of the moments and people they depict. They reveal a world which is shattered but full, described more in its instants than by its continuity, motionless in what seems like moments of revelation, or reflection. Private and witty, these paintings often entail questions relating power and gender relations, but also lighthearted moments of everyday’s life. Initially focused on a more narrative and detailed kind of figuration, with colourful views, scenes and characters, often painted onto very large formats, Zoi’s canvases and subjects have become in the past years smaller and narrower. Details, mostly of female bodies, became almost the only subject, while canvases shrunk in size. With “Spectators,” Zoi is presenting the viewers with the most extreme result of this process, but a surprise too. The subject depicted becomes one and the same, reiterated seamlessly, and the canvases are some of the smallest she has ever painted. Surprisingly, however, these bitty oils on canvas are juxtaposed to one of her largest paintings to date. Almost 4 meters wide, Spectators,(1) magnificently takes hold and sets the tone of the whole exhibition. In this large diptych, what appears to be three women, different in their body type and ethnicity, stand next to each other, and their bodies, cropped by the canvas’ margins, are shown only from the neck to the belly. Only their bare breasts remain in the picture plane, and only breasts are the subject, in fact, of each and every work part of “Spectators.” They look back at us from the walls of the gallery space, powerfully imposing their presence in the room, in the inversion of roles between who is looking and who is looked upon which the artist wanted to suggest with the exhibition title. Eventually, by repeating her subjects indefinitely, Kyvèli Zoi does also something more with her images. She seems to aim to create what one could describe as new archetypes, odd and private archetypes like: that hand holding a cigarette in a thoughtful moment, the cocktail glass barely covering the forms of a naked body, or that feeling while looking into a fishbowl. This ‘archetype-isation’ might be read as an invitation to stop considering only the singularity of the very image in front of us, and surpass it in order to appreciate its higher essence, distilling the very prototypical form(2) it held for the artist. As such, this close up of breasts, looking back at us from the picture plane, becomes part of this vocabulary of idiosyncratic archetypes, in its beautiful and empowering clarity.
Mattia Lullini
SPECTATORS 2023, oil on linen, Diptych 140 x 160 cm (each) dimensions variable
Kim
2023, oil on linen, 30 x 24 cm
Peggy
2023, oil on linen, 30 x 24 cm
Darleene
2023, oil on linen, 30 x 24 cm
Ruth
2023, oil on linen, 30 x 24 cm
Perseverance
2022, oil on linen, 85 x 60 cm
She only touches light
between breaths, between fingers
while waiting for the events to come.
Her form of waiting is not passive. Think of it like rehearsing preparedness.
____
She only touches light
between breaths, between fingers
while waiting for the events to come.
The flame has burned her edges and her form of waiting looks like a protest now.
____
She only touches light
between long breaths, between fingers
while waiting for the events to come.
She lets some fires walk over her back
spread onto the table cloth.
[unfinished]
____
Tips delicately touching each other. Golden flares reflect some interlocutor’s shadow.
Her chest stretches. Sometimes it expands drastically to fill in with the breath of the given room.
The cavity of her chest not only measures time but also space. When it gets too much to hold she begins a series of movements to release air. It’s that ritual that looks like waiting.
- Danae Io, 2022
Warming Up, 2022, Oil on wood panel, 43 x 30 cm
Mother’s Prayer, 2022, oil on wood panel, 43 x 30 cm
Woman, 2022, oil on linen, 120 x 80 cm
Little Prayer, 2022, oil on wood panel, 80 x 55 cm
Serious Decision, 2022, oil on canvas, 127 x 88 cm
It’s About Time ,2022, Oil on linen, 25 x 20 cm
Instinct, 2022, Oil on linen, 45 x 40 cm
Pathos, 2022, oil on linen, 29 x 22 cm
Letter to my Future Self, 2022, Oil on wood panel, 33 x 24 cm
Different Memories
2021, Diptych - Oil on linen & handmade wooden frame, 20 x 25 cm (each)
Toxic Love
2021, Diptych - Oil on linen & handmade wooden frame, 20 x 25 cm (each)
Waiting for Some News
Oil on linen, handmade wooden frame, 22 x 30 cm
Trying to Communicate
Oil on linen, handmade wooden frame, 22 x 30 cm
We Need to Talk
2021, Diptych - Oil on linen & handmade wooden frame, 20 x 25 cm (each)
Elma is pleased to present Coffee Cigarettes Amore, a new series of paintings by Kyvèli Zoi, dedicated to the inner pondering of unhealthy habits and how to work with them. By creating an homage to Jim Jarmusch’s film “Coffee and Cigarettes”, she uses repetitive symbols and structures to tell a linear story of a beloved daily routine that ends up becoming toxic.
Figures and tightly framed gestural details refer to memory and projection of oneself while foregrounding moments of tension. Kyveli portrays instances of crisis within the assumed routine in an attempt to personify the combination of nicotine, caffeine and heartbreak.
The series focuses on a personal contemplation of one’s bad habits and the lack of clarity within them, while insisting that love is the only thing worth living for. It is the first time throughout her practice that she attempts a self portrait in search of an honest reflection. Utilizing heartache and the quest for self love, she achieves a form of introspection within the metaphorical atmospheres of her paintings.
Divorce, 2021, Oil on linen, handmade wooden frame, 30 x 40 cm
BIO→
Kyvèli Zoi is a painter based between Athens and Paris. Influenced by her international background, Kyvèli draws inspiration from the roots of traditional music, history and social struggle. Her vision and understanding of the world take form in oneiric scenes that are constructed to highlight the value of the details that make the ordinary, extraordinary. Through figuration, Kyvèli composes an amplified theatricality that proposes glimpses into the spiritual connection between human communities and the broader natural environment.
Kyvèli has exhibited in numerous group and solo exhibitions internationally, in Europe, the United States and Asia. Her collaborators span from galleries and institutions, to film directors and designer brands. Since 2022 she is an awarded member of the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artworks Artist Fellowship. Kyvèli is also the founder of KYAN, a residency program in Athens.
Photo by Nicolas Melemis
CV →
Education:
2013-2016: BFA, School of Visual Arts (New York, USA)
2014: Exchange Program, Ecole National Des Beaux Arts (Paris, France)
2011-2012: Foundation Diploma, Central Saint Martins College of Art UAL (London, UK)
Solo Shows:
2025: Been to Places, Seen Some Faces , Viktoria Fasianou Gallery (Athens, Greece)
2024: Shoe Shop, Acappella Gallery (Naples, Italy)
2023: Spectators, NEVVEN Gallery (Gottenburg, Sweden)
2022: Letters to My Future Self, Acappella Gallery (Naples, Italy)
2022: Coffee Cigarettes Amore, Elma Gallery (New York, USA)
Group Shows:
2025: Sadness is Rebellion curated by Dayneris Brito at LAC Foundation - Collection Atal (Paris, FR)
2025: Better Views, duo show with Louis Jacquot produced by KYAN (Hydra, Greece)
2025: The Ember’s Song, curated by Igni at MISC (Athens, GR)
2025: The Clown Spirit - The Traveling Exhibition, curated by Joanna De Vos (Belgium, Italy, Greece)
2025: Housewarming, Pop Up show curated by N. Papadopoulou & N. Ventourakis (Athens, GR)
2024: The Collective II, Visionary Projects (New York, USA)
2024: An Eye is All I Am curated by Katerina Nikolaou at Baraka Art Space (Spetses, GR)
2024: Jardin des Delices at Claire Gastaud Gallery (Paris, FR)
2024: Petite Shoe Show at Adrian Sutton Gallery (Paris, FR)
2023: Figures Hyrdropiques at Ciaccia Levi Gallery (Paris FR)
2023: Looking with the Eyes of Love curated by Aristeidis Lappas at Breeder Gallery (Athens GR)
2023: 180 x 120 curated by Florent Frizet at Haus N’Athen (Athens, GR)
2023: Felix Art Fair 2023 in collaboration with Breeder Gallery (Los Angeles, USA)
2023: Me, Myself and Us at La Causa Gallery (Madrid, ES)
2023: We Tell Ourselves Stories In order to Live at Callirhoë Gallery, curated by O.Tzortzi and X.Kalpatsoglou (Athens, GR)
2023: Judas Kiss, Wouters Gallery Online (Brussels, BE)
2023: Duo Show with Claudio Coltorti curated by Florent Frizet for 180x120 Project (Athens GR)
2022: Duo Show with Claudio Coltorti at Artissima Art Fair, with Galleria Acappella (Torino, IT)
2022: Group Show in Art Weeks at Akaretler curated by Perasma (Istanbul, Turkey)
2022: Elpis curated by Kyvèli Zoi at KYAN Project Space (Athens, GR)
2022: The Feeling of Things, curated by Colleen Grennan for White Columns Gallery (New York, USA)
2022:With a Little Help from my Friends with KYAN Project Space for Back to Athens Festival 2022. (Athens, GR)
2022: Lapin-Canard Editions (Paris) at One Minute Space (Athens, GR)
2022: The Root curated by Fotini Vergidou at Amphicar Studio (Athens GR)
2022: Occupy curated by Sozita Goudouna at French Consulate of New York (New York, USA)
2021: Animal Show at Acappella Gallery (Naples, IT)
2021: Cc , curated by Olympia Tzortzi at Callirrhoe Gallery (Athens, GR)
2021: Rien ne Va Plus, at Wouters Gallery (Brussels, BE)
2021: Vision 20/20, curated by Marcelle G. Yhap for White Columns Gallery , (New York, USA )
2021: Art on Boards, curated by Georgia Liapi, Zoumboulakis Gallery (Athens, GR)
2021: PEIRAO, curated by Kyvèli Zoi at KYAN Project Space, (Athens GR)
2021: The Now, curated by Adele Smejkal for Artistellar (London, UK)
2020: El Que Busca Encuentra, y Sigue Encontrando, curated by D. Baez White Columns Gallery (New York, USA)
Notable Projects / Residencies / Collaborations:
2025: Kyvèli Zoi x TOD’S , artistic collaboration for global advertising campaign.
2025: Artist in Residence at La Chappelle st.Antoine (Naxos, GR)
2025: Artist in Residence at Tryfon Art Residency (Mytelene, GR)
2023: Artist in Residence at Museé Maillol x PAL Project Gallery (Paris, FR)
2021: La Bohème, exhibition curated by Eftihia Stefanidi at Shila suite No 4 (Athens, GR)
2021: Art Works Fellows Grant winner of Stavros Niarchos Foundation (Athens, GR)
2021: Commission Painting The Miracle of Exposure for Livanos Inc OCEANA NYC (120 W49th St, New York, USA)
2021: Art Direction of Ciné Studio Program at KYAN with directors Marina Gioti and George Salameh (Athens, GR )
2021: Selected Finalist for Print Publication of Art Maze Magazine WINTER ISSUE 21 (London, UK)
2020: Art Direction of Ciné Studio Program at KYAN with director Giorgos Panousopoulos (Athens, GR)
2020: Studio Assistant for Raymond Pettibon (New York, USA)
2020: Life is a Theatre (5 Paintings on Commission) for Livanos Inc OCEANA (New York, USA)
2019: Art Direction of Ciné Studio at KYAN with directors: Antonis Kitsikis, Thomas Kunstler and Dimitri Lambridis (Athens, GR)
2018: White Columns Gallery Online Artist Registry
2018: DNA Residency Program (Province Town, MA) curated by Freight and Volume Gallery
2018: Art Direction for Theatrical Play "Το Μεγάλο Κρεβάτι" ("The Big Bed") REX Theatre - National Theatre of Greece
2018: Assistant Set Designer to Director Kyriaki Spanou at the Michalis Cacoyannis Foundation (Athens, Greece)
2018: Scenes from the Theatre of Life, DECADENCE Art Space (Athens, GR)
2017: Art Direction for Short Length Film TETTIX, by Director Antonis Kitsikis (Athens, Greece)
2017: Art Direction for Feature Length Film In the Country that Nobody Knew How to Cry (Σ'αυτή τη Χώρα Kανείς δεν Ηξερε να Κλαίει) by director George Panousopoulos, (Greece) Release Date: September 2018
2017: Set Design & Painting for Theatrical Play by Manos Vavadakis National Theatre of Greece, (Athens, Greece)
2017: Art Direction of Performance The Strongest- My Silence Has Ended, in collaboration with actress Eleni Michailidis, curated by poet Davida Singer for KALEIDOSCOPE Festival, SVA Theatre (NY, New York).
2016: Theatre of Passages, at Chora's Venetian Castle ( Naxos, Greece)
2016: Commission Painting: "Allegory of an Essence" for Livanos Inc OUSIA NYC (New York, USA)
2016: HEBDOMEROS, pop up solo show at Monroe Warehouse (New York, USA)
2016: Open Studios SVA, Diploma Show (New York, USA)
2014-2015: Illustrator for Film Project, with director George Panoussopoulos (Athens, Greece)
2012: Illustrator for RED Design Consultants (Athens, Greece)
PRESS→
Madame Lady Boss Reviewing Life 2020, oil and gold leaf on linen, 120 x 120 cm. Courtesy of Kyvèli Zoi and Livanoc Inc
Contact→
Kyvèli Zoi Studio / Paris, France
Viktoria Fasianou / Athens, Greece
Acappella Gallery / Naples, Italy
Trying to Contact You 2021 , Oil on linen, 22 x 30 cm. Courtesy of Kyvèli Zoi