SILVANA ANGELAKIS

Rather than revealing the inner gesture, Silvana Angelakis is interested in the strategies used to mask our vulnerability and inconsistencies. The figures in Angelakis's series of army boys, small toy soldiers made of study resin, are unbendable and almost unbreakable. These soldier boys are tough enough to face the fiercest challenges, yet what of the souls within? Can they survive when even their posture is fixed and ready for violence? The use of toy figurines reinforces the childhood origins of stereotypes embedded in the toys bestowed on children and in the expectations foisted upon them.

Angelakis's background in costume design is evident in other works that deal with the garments with which we clothe ourselves. Having the appearance of immaculately tailored suit jackets these hard, inflexible resin artworks suggest a brittle superficiality to the external projections we use for adornment and protection. Whatever generality we choose to hide or even to project onto others, a generality will always be just that: a denial of the complexities that swarm within us.

- Melinda Rankin
Director of the Hahndorf Academy Regional Gallery and Museum



My current work continues with the theme of identity. I have used a suit jacket as a well recognized symbol. It continues the exploration of outer perceptions and how we present ourselves to the world. In costume history the two most important influences in men's clothing have been the sporting and military uniforms. In this body of work I am interested in the psychological and moral indicator of the conscious and unconscious image.

- Silvana Angelakis