Places

“… Maria Karametou’s “Abandoned” (is) dedicated to the memory of her mother. A tiny house, only 10 inches high, has a window out of which a woman leans, reaching vainly down to a little bouquet of flowers left on the step out front. It’s a reminder that no matter how much children love their parents, they abandon them to some degree as they grow up. Efforts to make it up to them are futile, for it’s impossible for children to return the full measure of parents’ love. In its quiet way, this is the most moving work in the show”.

John Dorsey, Art Critic, The Baltimore Sun

“Maria Karametou’s “Abandoned” is a little stone-like house in gray plaster with no door. The colorful image of a young Victorian-looking woman appears in the house’s only window. Holding tight to a bunch of flowers, the woman seems forlorn over the lone blossom tat has fallen to the ground and lies at the base of the small house, like an offering left at graveside…. succeed(s) by embodying the pathos of struggle and loss in simple forms, producing works that are strong but not schmaltzy.” 

Adam Lerner, The New Art Examiner

“ … these basic structures.. create intellectually provocative, visually arresting commentaries on our relationships to dwellings (how we are “bound” to the house form) and the people who have occupied or will occupy them. The work also explores images of the house as temple of the soul, a shrine of memory, and the ultimate shelter.”

Lee Fleming, Art Critic

“The intimate structures of the home continue Karametou’s investigation of the psyche, through the examination of the unconscious. In “Vacant” a traveler returns from an extensive journey only to discover a house closed and boarded with sign of life. Karametou employs a bricolage of mythology and psychology combined with curious abandoned objects to probe the persona and offer the viewer a deeper understanding of the workings of the unconscious mind.”

Angela Ogle, The C. Grimaldis Gallery

“…Maria Karametou, a Greek- born Marylander who explores her sense of cultural placement (or displacement)… Emblematic of her identity- questioning concerns is “Vacant”, a house-like structure with a little suitcase sitting in front of it. The house’s many windows are all covered with international postage stamps…” 

Mike Giuliano, The Baltimore City Paper