Remains

“… Maria Karametou does a strong work in handmade paper, this one about secrets of old. What rite was being practiced in the ancient world she recalls? That which remains is a sculpted face coming out of a crumbling wall and some indecipherable Greek writing.”  

                                                Pamela Kessler, The Washington Post

“…Karametou uses paper, wood, wire, fossils and other materials to fashion handsome, three-dimensional collages with Grecian images, including columns and arches, sculptured faces and architectural motifs. She then “weathers” the pieces to give them the appearance of being ancient artifacts. 

‘“…my surroundings and upbringing exposed me early on to the paradox of time and our passage through it as individuals and as civilizations whose remnants still manifest vanished lives and cultures,” Karametou says in a statement. 

One of the most successful works in the show is a six-part series of “family pictures” showing various scenes in the lives of Eleni and Constantinos. (“Remains: A Family Album”) These look like 1,000 year old snapshots, which is quite a feat…”

 Steve Purchase, The Baltimore Evening Sun

                        “… The upstairs show is the interesting one here with apologies to the more renowned artists whose still lives comprise the downstairs exhibit. Maria Crowder has undertaken a substantial departure from her last show at Grimaldis, and it’s all to the good. Karametou, who now lives in the D.C. area, is of Greek origin and has had shows in Greece. Her irregularly shaped paper works in mixed media refer to imagined Byzantine exhumations- both objects and corpses, apparently- from a site familiar to her from childhood, hence the overtitle “Remains”. 

One certainly receives the impression of objects unearthed. The soil of ages tumbles from gold belts, studded garments, icons and heads, all in two-dimension. It’s not as gritty as it sounds. Crowder’s concern is not a strange art made from strange things. Her paper works, while original and incorporating found materials, have been consciously fashioned by a comfortably mainstream sensibility.”

Tom Weisser, The Baltimore City Paper