air
Angeliki Stamatakou
“Life is unpredictable. If you want to evolve and you're willing to see, then you keep on changing. And when you keep changing, everything around you changes. So my life philosophy is being open to that change.”
Angeliki Stamatakou is a Greek sculptor, born and raised in Athens’ southern suburbs. Her intuitive works draw from organic and subconscious forms, resulting in pieces that feel stuck out of time and place – like fossils dredged up from an ocean in a parallel universe.
While creativity always guided her choices, it wasn’t until 2022 that she fully committed to art and a ravenous public response followed. Since then, her work has appeared at the Venice Biennale, Milan Design Week, Florence Biennale, Art Athina, and in collaboration with artists and artisans as far afield as South Africa.
Stamatakou was recently an artist-in-residence at Mona, as part of the room takeover series “SPACE REIMAGINED. Given a hotel suite as a blank canvas for creative play, Stamatakou turned Penthouse 16 into a dreamlike sanctuary; her ‘creatures‘ crawling over the walls and floors, ceramic objects blurring the lines between function and sculpture; playful shapes spilling into the architectural rigidity of the space.
We spoke with Angeliki about the creative process, discovering the self through making, transformation through pain—and the importance of protecting your energy.
photography by EFTIHIA STEFANIDI
photography by ALEXANDRA KOUMANTAKI
photohraphy by YIORGOS KAPSALAKIS
photography by EFTIHIA STEFANIDI
HOS: Are there any specific feelings you want the guests who stay in this room, surrounded by your art, to feel?
AS: My aim was to make it feel like a different world, so the memories of your stay are like nothing else. It is Athens, but I also want to bring a bit of magic.
“When you really love something, you’re always careful with how you treat it.”
photography by EFTIHIA STEFANIDI
HOS: I have to say, the mirrors you made look like you can enter them and teleport.
AS: Yes, actually, you can walk through them.
HOS: All of the objects have a common language—darkness and the deep blues of nature and the sea.
AS: I like to play with mystery in my work. Science fiction. Otherworldliness. But the differences between the pieces are from distinct feelings, so I don’t think of them as one subject. It’s as if I’ve been keeping a diary and each sculpture is a page. The common language I use is subconscious.
HOS: Can you describe your in-studio creative process?
AS: The creative process is deeply personal. I let my subconscious guide me. Initially, I’ll create the form in peace and quiet; then, once the sculpture has been ‘born’ in my mind, I’ll carve, sculpt and add details while listening to music. I let my instincts guide me. After I’ve finished the piece, I might realise what I was actually feeling, what I was experiencing, but I don’t know beforehand. Sometimes it can start from planning or sketches, but the times I enjoy most are when I have the creative freedom to do whatever I want. I don’t want to be restricted by a sketch. I might sketch, but they may never turn into an object. It’s open-ended, it’s just a starting point.
“You can tell a lot of things from an artist’s work, just by observing the forms. It’s like their biography.”
photography by EFTIHIA STEFANIDI & ALEXANDRA KOUMANTAKI
HOS: Are you comfortable with your art being in a place where people will use it every day?
AS: I don’t mind where my art goes. It could live anywhere. Once it’s been born, it has a life of its own. My creatures have their own destiny.
HOS: How many hours do these take to make? Is it a long process?
AS: Some take months, some take less, but I often work on more than one piece during the same period of time, depending on how or when I want to finish it.
HOS: When do you know the piece is done?
AS: It’s an instinct. It tells you: I’m done. There’s nothing else you need to do, nothing else to reveal. It’s ready. It feels intuitive—to me, at least.
HOS: You’ve said in the past that you draw inspiration from nature. Are there any specific experiences you’ve had in nature which have appeared in your work?
AS: My childhood memories keep appearing in my work. Again, I’m not fully aware when this happens, but I’ve also noticed it. I think it has something to do with the fluidity of the forms and textures which I like to use.
HOS: Is there something you’ve learned about yourself in making this work?
AS: That I enjoy having to think about art and space at the same time, which has a lot to do with interior design as well. By being an artist I’ve learned that I cannot define myself. I just redefine myself.
HOS: Do you have to be solitary to work?
AS: I need to have time on my own to create. I need to have peace of mind, to be able to let my subconscious guide me and not to be influenced by others. It’s very important the result is authentic – and that it’s me.
HOS: Were you always solitary this way?
AS: No, I haven’t always been like that. It’s only in the last two years I’ve been free and open to everything. And it’s not just because of what was happening in my career as an artist, but also what has been happening in my personal life. I had the curiosity to understand what was going on and my place in this world and my place as a woman, mother, artist and as a daughter.
There was a time where everything was just travelling in my head, but then I realised a lot of things about myself and the people close to me. I think that shows in my work. You can tell a lot of things from an artist’s work, just by observing the forms. It’s like their biography. Like a scan.
“I cannot define myself. I just redefine myself.”
photography by ALEXANDRA KOUMANTAKI & EFTIHIA STEFANIDI
HOS: Are there any artists, past or present, who’ve influenced you?
AS: I do admire a lot of artists from many fields, but the reality is the ones who have influenced me the most are musicians. It’s about their provocative and rebellious spirits. I’m a curious person by nature, so I’m drawn to people who are unapologetically themselves. There’s a bravery in that, they make you reflect on your own life and how honestly you’re living it.
HOS: How do you balance motherhood and being an artist?
AS: Balancing being an artist with motherhood is like balancing motherhood with being anything else. Being an artist is actually really fun for the kids. We paint together, we make sculptures together. I think it’s fun for children to have an artist mom.
HOS: Is there a life philosophy you live by?
AS: Life is unpredictable. If you want to evolve, you keep on changing. And when you keep changing, everything around you changes. So my life philosophy is being open to that change.
“ It’s as if I’ve been keeping a diary and each sculpture is a page. The common language I use is subconscious.”
HOS: There’s a lot of use of light in your work. But it’s not always a dip. It’s almost as if they’re fossils which have taken thousands of years to form. Some pieces are rough, some pieces are smooth. Is this done purposefully?
AS: Yes, I like being unable to tell whether something is new or old or from the future. I like the idea of a found sculpture or object which you can’t quite place. It adds character. There’s a mystery behind it.
HOS: What is beauty, in your eyes?
AS: Beauty is a feeling. It’s what I find interesting, what I would like to give my time to, what intrigues me. It’s love.
