The work Dreamlike Irrationality, 2022, consists of two videos with a text in each video: the first video features a monologue written by the artist appearing in a white outline on a black background, and the second video features various sentences overlain on top of each other.
The text, alluding to eroticism, is written in the second person to immediately capture the viewer's attention, while at the same time repeating illuminated sentences in orange shades create confusion. The video is an imaginary dialogue between the artist and a wild animal; more specifically, a lion.
The work challenges the concept of the lion as a societal stereotype, and redefines the various societal notions that are attached to it, such as the killer wild beast, aiming to confuse the viewer by portraying it as a strange bedfellow.
Are you talking to me?
Am I a lion?
The history of modern art teaches that a wild animal isn't always what it appears to be, but rather resembles a Dreamlike Irrationality... with which you can also ...sleep with. The relationship between the man and the animal, and how they can coexist, distorts the identity of the animal in society, resulting in a dreamlike irrationality between the self and the animal.
Andreou, is inspired by the painting "Daniel in the Lions' Den" by Peter Paul Rubens, which, according to the Old Testament, tells how the Persian king Darius I (550–486 BC) condemned Daniel to spend the night in a lion’s den because he worshiped God and not him. The next morning, the stone that sealed the entrance was found rolled away and Daniel was still alive.
Ιn Dreamlike Irrationality, the artist explores the notion of the Dionysian relationship of the Greek god with wild animals, placing human in Dionysus’s stead.
TEXT
I want to sleep with you tonight
No one else can give me what you do
You will hold me tight and safe for the whole night and i will too
I want to stay with you
I brought you with me
I would rather stay days with you than anyone else I want to sleep with you,
You are not what the rest of them say “when you kill me”
You will lie next to me
I want you to be alright
Look at me
It’s time for you to sleep too
We will wake up when we decide we should
We will prove them wrong
Come closer, I want to feel you baby
Don’t be scared
I trust you and I love you
I want to sleep with you tonight
I want to touch you…
I want to smell you and look right into the fire of your eyes