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Cris Gianakos

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Cris Gianakos

(Born 1934, works in i New York)

Orion, 1990

Steel

500 x 300 x 500 cm

Thanks to KnislingeVerken AB

Courtesy of the artist

Cris Gianakos’ Orion reminds us of a catapult though Orion is immobile and lacks any obvious function. Gianakos has been a part of the New York City art scene since the 1960s and he has made many architectonic works. Orion is part of a series of ramp sculptures that he has worked with since 1977, and displays a close connection to Russian constructivism and the artist Vladimir Tatlin’s statue Monument for the Third International from 1919 – 1920. In older religions and mythologies, ramps can symbolize a rite of passage, the movement from a lower to a higher point. In Greek mythology, the great hunter Orion was placed in the heavens after his death.