I approached the work of Opy Zouni as one approaches the rational space of an architecture open to perspectives, physical as well as emotional or conceptual. The soul, the guiding force behind her perceptive vision is the much talked-about ‘teeming voids’ in her oeuvre. Indeed, the architectures of Opy Zouni are not about plans for functional dwellings, loads borne by the pillars or rational forces intruding in the structure. No, her works are her own way of telling her story and relating to her environment. Life is hard, and instead of passively putting up with our surrounding space she decided to construct it, to define the lines of focus and vision, to establish the possibility of projecting her gaze to a space which is bright, clear and sure.
It took me some time to understand this protective aspect in the work of Opy Zouni. Her geometry is of a kind that protects from the teeming voids, from the assaults of the world. We live in a hard world, and Opy is extremely sensitive to these virtual attacks of the environment. In her work this threat is allayed by the brightness and clarity of her perspective, which draws elements from both Egypt and Greece and is associated with the almost totemic power of the pillar. Indeed, some of her recent structures feature just one pillar which represents in a way the vibrant, exultant power of life, the cosmic energy inherent in life. This cosmic energy is a force of sensibility which activates the voids it can create in a structural imagination. And I believe that these teeming voids which Opy once again presents so forcefully and resolutely as part of the dialogue between light and shade, black and white, in an exultation of colour —I have talked before about an encounter of Mondrian and Matisse in respect with the work of Opy Zouni— these two extremes, reflect the oscillations of her own perception of being. What is more important in any case is the structure of this cosmic energy that fills the void; in her work, this energy manifests itself through a spontaneous osmosis between the very conscience of her being and her self, that is between herself as an organized thinking space and, extraneously, a rational approach to her presence in the world. I believe that this sense of reason, this sense of the rational in the context of reason, is fundamental for Opy as it conditions her own mental and vital balance as well.
Doesn’t this extremely direct, rigorous, functional aspect of the work reflect the atmosphere of constant battle in her art and life? And I also think that the great truth in her work lies exactly in this intuitively correct balance between the willpower to create rational structures and this universal sensibility that is associated with a great boost from the cosmic landscape. The ontological balance of Opy Zouni is based on the dialectic dosage of these two existential motivating forces. So her sensibility is linked to this notion of cosmic energy.

Malevich received this energy when he created his White on White, and stopped at that; Yves Klein also received it but went farther, passing from blue to the void and managing to regain the existential economy of his three fundamental colours —blue, pink and gold — a variation of Hegel’s primary colours. Opy Zouni certainly has a deep sense of cosmic energy which drives her to make all these protective structures, urges her to use colour in specific, differentiated ways and, above all, establishes a fundamental existential axiom within the artist’s code of ethics. Opy Zouni knows that this cosmic energy will be driving her sensibility for life; but once she is gone, this energy will return to the universal flux of energy. So she has both rights and obligations with reference to this constructive energy which provides her with a sense of security and well-being. It is her obligations to it which inspire the artistic morphology of the work: be it the use of colour, the use of pillars, shadows and light on the columns or the perspective, this infinitely rational aspect also contains a direct moral reference. This cosmic energy that drives our sensibility we don't take for granted, as if we owned it. No, we are simply users of this sensibility, and the feeling of having just ‘borrowed’ the energy inspires a structural language, imposes a kind of restraint. What appears as a spontaneous rational language in the work of Opy Zouni is deep down the expression of a moral restraint. This means that the artist must use the energy to create an environment of defined sensibility, within an atmosphere of calmness and serenity that protects the artist and at the same time makes the viewer feel at ease.
Thinking about the art of Opy Zouni I realize how this sense of easy communication, the intuitive osmosis between a precisely structured environment and an atmosphere of total sensibility and thriving freedom makes her work so familiar to the public. This need for order and calmness is, after all, a main advantage for those who regard a visual event as an accomplishment in itself rather than an open door to any fortuitous direction. This emotional wealth that lies hidden in the voids or is transmitted through them is to me the most fascinating and enticing existential —and certainly the most genuine— side of the artist. The restraint I mentioned before is also another point to her credit, not being of the kind that imposes a repetitive geometrical pattern which could become onerous or routine. Indeed, once again the emotional character influences both colours and structures and we experience it as an atmosphere of freedom which was attained through effort, which was conceived, created and accomplished with difficulty, but which allows us to feel that we live a little better, a little deeper, a little freer. And we end up identifying ourselves with these protective structures, savouring their existential truth and their profound fascination.

State Gallery of Contemporary Cypriot Art Home
Artist's Home     Artists Hosted     Kara Art Home