Ariadni Vitastali (b. 1970) is a Hellenic visual artist based in northern Greece. She holds a D.N.A.P. (Diplôme National des Arts Plastiques) from the École Supérieure d’Art et Design Saint-Étienne, France (1994), and a D.N.S.A.P. (Diplôme National Supérieur des Arts Plastiques) from the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Paris (1998). Ariadni has exhibited internationally in group shows and held solo exhibitions in New York, France, and Greece. Her practice centers on the interplay of space, movement, and mythology, weaving historical echoes with a contemporary perspective. Driven by ancient Greek and Roman myths and the intricate patterns of classical ceramics, her work becomes a dialogue between the eternal and the intimate. Through a choreographed display of vacant and supercharged spaces, dynamic gestures, and untamed energy, her art delves into the thresholds of grace and grit, structure and entropy.
”Through my hasty handling of oil sticks and violent application of strokes, my practice explores the tension between harmony and chaos, beauty and vulgarity, emptiness and excess. Inspired by Greek and Roman mythology and classical ceramics, I reimagine these narratives through a contemporary lens, blending history with personal experience. At its core, my practice examines boundaries of the feminine body (my body) — between the timeless and the contemporary, order and chaos — through its influences and its associations to feelings of aggression, love, and lust, and their points of osculation.”
— Ariadni Vitastali
/CV
Press
■ ATHENS Voice, Ariadni Vitastali: “Painting is the poetry that is born and lives within the silence.” (GR)
■ ERTecho Radio, Ariadni Vitastali / Lena Athanasopoulou (GR)
■ VWOMAN, Ariadni Vitastali: I paint the way I live (GR)
■ GLOW, From Antiquity to today: the painter Ariadni Vitastali discuses with us about her exhibition, titled “Parentheses and Myths” (GR)
■ AL-Tiba9 Contemporary Art, 10 Questions with Ariadni Vitastali (ENG)
■ NEW ART Examiner, Art Fair Confidential (ENG)
“ … In the past five years, Vitastali’s work has been informed by a creative dialogue with mythology and antiquity. The artist grew up with myths, through stories told by her grandmother. As an adult, she continued to pursue this interest within the context of art, discovering its relevance in a contemporary context. She became a narrator herself — ‘responder’ might be a better word, as she acts primarily with paint rather than words. With color and line, on paper and canvas, she circles around ancient stories to re-interpret them and bring them to life in freestyle adaptations. Stylistically, they are rooted in expressive, gestural painting as well as in Surrealist automatism. Immediacy is key to her approach, and she appeals first to the senses rather than discourse, even though words are regularly included in the works as touch stones, directing the attention … ”.
— Jurriaan Benschop, The Past in the Present