Mode International is a  ritual of re-appropriation; in these revisited fashion histories, reality lands on the glossy surface of perfect beauty. The artist paints directly on selected images re-discovered in the international press; models in outdated fashion editorials obtain new faces and undergo various metamorphoses. The masked muses are no longer objects to look at but also subjects capable of looking at us. In this transformation game, the artist explores the fringes of mainstream culture, via the transfiguration of her protagonists and the deactivation of consumerism. Mode International contributes to the blurring of the boundaries between a fashion industry generated sex-appeal, a world of fantasy (the artist’s own) and female empowerment. Irini Karayannopoulou underlines the everlasting motif of objectifying women while she reflects on society’s expectation of perfection and the pending notion of the ideal. The army of beauties featured in the exhibition, travel through time and space vis-à-vis each other’s vulnerable and glamorous poses, in newly obtained identities. Model becomes muse becomes icon becomes Goddess, in a staged situation of re-appropriation and overturning of preexisting hierarchies. The ambiguity of these characters determines their expressive power as they fluidly transform from forgotten, superficial, unanimated puppets into powerful, quasi-supernatural women (and  rarely, men). As Delia Gonzalez recently stated at the Art issue of Vogue Polska: the work of Irini Karayannopoulou achieves what all works of art aim for: entry into the world of the untouchable. Irini’s sphere is filled with boundless filters that open the passageway to the unconscious universe, where creativity and evolution preside.

Sébastien Marteau,  2020