Iosifina Kosma
Everything starts with
a vision
The process of
creation
Clay and I
Μy work with clay has always been related to the flowing of a curve or a cavity on which the viewer’s eye constantly slides. Although inspired by nature, I am not interested in the realistic depiction of a natural object.
After 25 years of continuous creation with clay, I am becoming more and more aware of the relationship between the way we touch the raw material and our moves when we work and how this is reflected in the aesthetic quality of the artwork. With every touch, the clay imprints and reflects the quality of movement and emotions throughout the process of creation. Through the interconnectedness of material and artist, creation transforms into a constant challenge through which each and every one of us “gives birth” what is inside their soul. Their own unique approach to the world and life.
During the process of creation, some forms transform into more extroverted and dynamic shapes, gain more movement, and unfold in space. Others remain static, but nonetheless enclose a unique harmony and power in their simplicity.
While in the throes of creativity, my own creations spurn me onwards and I “observe” this reciprocation, and from being the one leading I allow myself to be led…
Bio
Iosifina Kosma was born in Athens in 1968. Her decision to pursue the art of ceramics was a result of the attraction she felt the first moment she experimented with clay at a very young age.
She graduated from the Moraitis School and studied Architecture at the National Technical University of Athens until 1993. Her postgraduate studies at Middlesex University in London were concluded with honors in the field of ceramics in 1997. In 1999 she set up her first studio and began practicing and teaching. In 2017 she became a member of the International Academy of Ceramics IAC. Today she lives and works in Athens.
Exhibitions & Symposiums
Genesis Gallery 2018
In this third solo exhibition, a new series of works called “Flows” is presented. It is a series of abstract forms which have an evolutionary relationship with the anthropomorphic sculptures of the older collections.
They are organic, forms that capture a sense of existence, and exude wholeness and harmony. Depending on the ever-changing point of view, sometimes they welcome and accommodate, sometimes they expel, absorb and extinguish.
“The first difficulty one encounters when faced with the new project of Iosifina Kosma, is the attempt to classify it and describe it to third parties.
Plunging into universes of pale sand and white primordial matter, her abstract clay forms whisper about the primacy of form, recalling a brilliant phrase by Margaret Atwood: “Genres aren’t closed boxes. Stuff flows back and forth across the borders all the time.”
Iris Kritikou, curator
“Hermoupolia 2006”
In the second solo exhibition, the female forms are different. Having the female body as a starting point, the forms escape from the realistic rendering of human proportions and focus on a harmonious composition of volumes, with their movements and poses evolving in favor of sculptural composition.
“In her second solo exhibition, Iosifina Kosma brings her women to conquer Syros. Round and voluptuous, empowered, liberated, in positions that often transcend reality, her figures emerge as symbols which, far from any academic depiction, show clearly how skilfully their “mother” plays with clay and creates what her imagination dictates.”
Maro Kerasioti, Ceramicist
Skoufa Gallery: 2001
The first solo exhibition includes female figures that focus on the characteristics of female nature associated with fertility, warmth, strength. Works that come to life depicting full figures in comfortable, everyday poses, conveying a sense of conscious confidence and empowered pride in the naked female body.
“The naked figures that Iosifina Kosma creates are characterized by the malleability and materiality as a result of her intention to simplify the form, as well as the arrangement of the axis on top of which she builds, combined with the massive, vibrant figures. The concave and convex areas succeed one another and blend together in a unique way that allows the light to smoothly caress them, which in sculpting comprises a difficult challenge. The shapes and the analysis of her forms have proportional density to the size of the synthesis she creates.”
Giorgos Georgiadis, Sculptor
SYMPOSIUMS
From 2004 to 2016, Iosifina Kosma participates in international symposiums, in China, India, Japan and Turkey. In the context of these symposiums, she gives lectures presenting the course of her personal work and topics related to the ceramic art and her country. During these symposiums the artworks she creates are presented among the creations of prestigious artists.
AWARDS
- 2010 | 49th Panhellenic ceramics exhibition | Maroussi | 2nd Commendation
- 2010 | International Competition |Qingdao, China |Gold Award
- 2021 |59th Panhellenic ceramics exhibition |Marousi |1stprize
