Christina Mitrentse, Pinewood King Bolete

The book in the form of a mushroom

With the work of art Pinewood King Bolete, Christina Mitrentse transforms the book from a carrier of the written word into an organic, almost living entity. It is a typical example of her mature sculptural practice.

The piece arises from the composition of old volumes that have been cut, folded, compressed and painted. Through this technique, the sculptural entity takes the form of a mushroom with an exceedingly enlarged cap and a strong base, which directly points to:

• Natural forms of the forest
• A totem object
• A primal symbol

The fungus in Mitrentse’s conceptual chain

As a form, the fungus is not an accidental choice. For Mitrentse, the fungus serves as a link in a wider conceptual chain that connects forests, trees, paper and books to decomposition and rebirth.

The same way that fungi decompose organic matter to feed new cycles of life, the artist decomposes the book as a reading object and recomposes it as a sculpture. In this way, the book takes on a new physical and spatial dimension.

The surface of the piece bears intense red and earthy colours and captures the markings of the pages and printed words, elements that compose a multidimensional narrative of time, use and memory.

Mitrentse’s manual, laborious work expresses 2 interlinked dimensions:

• Showcases the materiality of paper.
• Undermines the constancy of the concept of knowledge as something closed and unchangeable.

The sculpture as an ecosystem of knowledge

On a historical and artistic level, the piece is connected to contemporary sculpture, which uses everyday materials, and the tradition of the artistic book, which has shifted from the act of reading towards space and objects.

At the same time, the work of art is part of a wider environmentally conscious art movement, according to which nature is not a decorative pattern, but a system of relationships, transformations and interdependencies.

Pinewood King Bolete therefore serves as a hybrid piece: it is simultaneously a remnant of culture and an ever-transforming organism. It is not only an impressive artistic object, but also a compact carrier of Mitrentse’s artistic research.

Specifically, her research revolves around knowledge, memory and the cycles of decay and rebirth, 4 elements that connect people to their natural and cultural environment.

Her life in a nutshell

Christina Mitrentse was born in Thessaloniki in 1977. She studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki. She was subsequently awarded a scholarship by the Onassis Foundation and continued her studies at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London and then at the University of Greenwich.

She is an interdisciplinary artist, an educator and an independent curator. Today she lives and works in Athens and London, and has a long-standing presence in the British artistic scene.

Her style through her work

Her work focuses on books as a form, content and metaphor of human existence, with the aim of exploring the dissemination, organisation and safeguarding of knowledge.

Mitrentse develops narratives and poetic series that connect the physical and digital dimension of information through contemporary creative forms, such as:

• Sculpture
• Sketching
• Silkscreen printing
• Installations
• Video
• Collage
• Wall art

In many of her works, she turns the body and pages of select books into hand-crafted sculptural objects. In this way she explores the “reading of a reading” and the transformation of the original material into a new organisational system.

Participation in exhibitions

Mitrentse has held more than 20 solo and 200 group exhibitions in museums, galleries and public spaces worldwide, including:

• Tate Modern
• The Royal Academy of Arts
• ICA London
• Liverpool Biennial
• MOMus
• EMST
• Acropolis Museum
• Hackney Museum
• Center for Book Arts, New York
• San Francisco Center for the Book

In 2022 she presented the Minumental exhibition at the a.antonopoulou.art gallery in Athens, in collaboration with the international project Add To My Library, with pieces that represented museums, cultural institutions and monuments, using books as their main building blocks.

Her works are part of notable private and public collections, and have been featured in Greek and international publications:

• Onassis Foundation
• Citronne Galleries
• Christina Mitrentse

Christina Mitrentse in the Alpha Bank Art Collection

The following works by Christina Mitrentse are also part of our Art Collection:

• 4 sculptures
• Pillar II

The sculpture Pinewood King Bolete is exhibited at the Alpha Bank central branch, 40 Stadiou Street, Athens.

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