<< back

Marilia Kolibiri

Marilia Kolibiri (born in 1993 as Maria Aimilia Kolympiri) is a graduate of the Athens School of Fine Arts. She lives and works in Athens. 

With her newest works Marilia Kolibiri draws our attention to the profane and its deeper meaning. Pop Art in a fresh, contemporary version. Striking. Concentrated on the essentials. With bright colors. She shows us things that – as a matter of course – belong to our daily needs and relieves them of careless immediacy and banality with her depictions.

Marilia Kolibiri thus emphasizes the importance that these things have for us. The contemplation stimulates contemplation and reflection: How we relate to these things, how we behave with them, how we maintain ourselves through them. 

Her recent positions are clearly influenced by the turmoil into which the pandemic has thrown all of us. Marilia focuses on key functions in our everyday life. Basic tasks with which everything starts. On which we are thrown back again and again. In lockdowns with brutal severity. Housework, cooking, eating, tidiness, cleanliness. As she describes it herself, the focus of her work is ultimately on “people”. It is about basic human needs, the way those needs are satisfied, the time and attention that is spent on them. It’s about preservation, enjoyment, well-being and being together.

“My painting style has childish elements”, she says. We find references to Jonathan Meese, Rose Wylie and Katherine Bernhard.  With their style and themes those painters relate, like Marilia Kolibiri, to the inner child. Their message is: Do not hide the child within. Do not ignore it. Take care of it. It has qualities and capabilities that our grown-up persona, which we create for succeeding in a competitive world, often suppresses.

Her works – painted in bright colors, with strong brushstrokes and fine nuances, idiosyncratic color mixtures – are a beacon against sadness and resignation. They awaken zest for life and at the same time are an invitation to discover confidence, joie de vivre and beauty. They are a sensual encouragement to concentrate on what is important and essential to us. 

Available Art: