Tenri Cultural Institute Presents Biomes and Homologies: Costas Picadas

Tenri Cultural Institute proudly presents Biomes and Homologies: Costas Picadas. Curated by Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos, the exhibition will be on view May 5 - May 31, 2023 with an opening reception on Friday May 5, 6-8PM.

The title of this show speaks to Costas Picadas' use of the biome motif that informs his paintings and videos while examining the underlying similarities in all things. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines biomes as a major ecological community or type of natural organism that adapts as a group. In creating natural forms as seen under a microscope and in nature with the naked eye, Picadas searches for inherent homologies. Like the descent of the human organs in a body, homology is defined by the scientist G.G. Simpson as a "resemblance due to inheritance from a common ancestry."

Homology is often analogized due to a common function so that, for example a wing of a bird is compared with a forearm of a larger animal. However, Picadas' search for underlying similarities is more than just an examination of Platonic ideal fundamental forms, it is an acknowledgment of the complexity of life.

Through his works, Picadas wants to heal nature, a fact evinced in the use of gauze on his canvasses as a preparatory layer. Having come from a family of doctors Picadas' salvational tendency is not surprising. This is seen in Picadas' Biome 6 and Biome 7 where the yellow undertones appear to be reflected in the foreground motifs. Picadas' Biomes series canvas-panels for the Tenri exhibition range in size from small 23x30" to 73x60 larger pieces. His curved motifs can be read as organic biomes or biological cells in division and formation as they appear to meet and withdraw. Whereas this phenomenon of coming together and separating in his video projections appears in motion, in his painted works the Biomes appear arrested in various phases of this process. Picadas' use of color is soft, transparent, layered and bounded by curving line while relating to protozoa or biological cells. His scientific subjects arise from his desire to find the inherent connection in life thus, biological aspects like mitosis as inspired by medical slides, are seen in much of his contemporaneous production both painted and filmed.