The sailboat of Ikaros

by Apostolis Artinos

Ikaros, situated in Rhodes, stood as a prominent ceramics factory during the interwar period. Operating under Italian rule initially, it later fell under the leadership of Kostas Hatzikostanis following the liberation of the Dodecanese. The factory played a vital role in modernizing the local economy and spearheaded a transformative shift from utilitarian to decorative ceramics. It also embraced a progressive approach to cater to the emerging tourist market. In an effort to revive the rich decorative heritage of traditional Ottoman ceramics, which once adorned the homes of Rhodes, particularly Lindos, Ikaros established a new production line. The island’s renowned plate walls proudly displayed rows of ceramic plates sourced from Iznik, Kiutachia, and Canakkale. These plates boasted a variety of motifs, ranging from intricate floral designs featuring carnations, tulips, and saz leaves to depictions of majestic sailing ships that adorned the walls of captains’ residences. This enduring aesthetic not only showcased the passage of time but also safeguarded the intrinsic essence of these artifacts. The ceramics crafted by Ikaros draw inspiration from this esteemed lineage, allowing them to reclaim a distinctive and powerful identity.

The Ottoman becomes Rhodian. In the eternal trade of the seas, objects come and go. Such is the vastness of these objects and the intensity of their circulation that they also blur the boundaries of our world. This maritime trade, which brought ceramics from Iznik and Kiutachia to the households of Rhodes, cherished them on the walls, and eventually, in a quiet and natural manner, obscured their origins into oblivion. In the mid-19th century, the French archaeologist Auguste Salzmann excavated ancient Kamiro and managed to acquire a staggering 467 Iznik ceramic plates from the plate walls of Lindos. He subsequently sold them to the Cluny Museum in Paris, where they were categorized in their collections as Rhodian, just as Salzmann had introduced them. Lived experiences transform their surroundings into the realm of poetic recomposition. Family heirlooms of grandparents emerge in the familiar language of personal experience, an imaginative endeavor that rescues the visceral essence of the object within the present realm of emotions. All that remains is the familiar image, the imprinted memory. This is precisely what Ikaros preserves on its ceramic surfaces, evoking the abundant Rhodian oblivion.

The Ikaros ceramics portray resurging themes from the past, imbued with a sense of destiny, as Benjamin would say. They embody gestures nurtured within a tradition of forms, constantly illustrating their historical imprints. Sailboats grace the scenes with a fresh breeze, alongside floral decorations that whisper on the faience surface. These images have not lost their memory but may have shed a bit of their “depth.” They resurface in the production of Ikaros, persisting with their enduring nature—the same boat, a visionary voyage towards infinity. This repeatability does not unsettle the images; instead, it perpetually renews them. Images return because it is the only way they affirm their existence. In a photograph from the 1950s, a young girl draws a boat on an Ikaros plate, attributing it to her imarene, a cycle of returns. Within the dome of tradition, what stems from the past is what perpetually remains new, as it belongs and yet does not belong to human time—it solely pertains to this constant cycle of return, the life-giving gesture of repetition.

The boats of Iznik and the boats of Ikaros embody a persistent image that traverses ages. It is the Aegean boat that connects islands with distant shores—a sailboat portrayed with transparent precision, accompanied by fish swimming within the waves’ transparency. These undulating waves reach the vessel’s rim, causing it to overflow. It is a fantastical image, as with all traditional images, appearing as both an image and a mental mirage. It appears that this image of a wanderer, only familiar with returning, nods toward the horizon—an eschatological essence inherent in the image itself. Its angiographer continually updates his ships, carrying them within, inscribing them even as he copies antiboles. Images of tradition are intertwined, intermediate apparitions that perpetually subject our vision to inert similes that are immediately evoked. This little boat, with its sails billowed by an imperceptible wind, is the same wind that stirs within us, secretly animating the unforgettable.

There exists the floral decoration of Ikaros, alongside a composition of ceramic tiles by Egon Huber, the iconic artist of Ikaros, found in the house of Hadjikostanis in the city of Rhodes, depicting Paradise. But how is Heaven depicted? How is it precisely traced? In the grand tradition of the East, it is a secret garden, brimming with blossoms and melodies. An orgiastic creation that pervades every inch of its representation. No point is devoid of a name—names abound, representing all manifestations of an inspiring word, a captivating revelation. In Ottoman iconography, the paradisiacal garden serves as the luminary of reason, a unique symbol of epiphany. However, in Huber’s composition, the created world bears the light and darkness of its historical destiny. It possesses the flowers and birds, yet it also features menacing felines lurking amidst the foliage. A snaking brook traverses the scene, serving as a reminder of what is absent. It is a representation on the fringes of History that reveals something and, through its commemoration, withdraws the essence of non-existence—the very essence that permeates all forms of representation.

And then there is the saz leaf—a long, narrow serrated leaf that dominates the decoration of Ottoman ceramics and Ikaros ceramics, yet it does not exist in the botanical world. It is merely an inspired design that intersects the adorned surface, organizing its surroundings. It is a species that, though distinct, lacks identity. Its genealogy serves another code—the code of its appearance and perception, becoming both its distinctive feature and distinguishing difference. The saz leaf, while non-existent, exists through its image, etched onto the surface of perception. We find ourselves in the spectral realm of images and mirages, where events become real precisely due to the non-existence of their images. It is within this artistic event of traditional art that its ontology is continuously diverted to the allure of its metonyms. Arabic artifacts become figures of an elaborate night, only to dissolve into the light of day. They are mere traces, manifestations of the mind, revealing another world, another being within the world.

The people of Ikaros—three individuals whose faces have caught my attention, or had caught my attention. First is Egon Huber, as described by Lawrence Durrell, “a lonely, tall, blond man who lives in a constant melancholy, and all he wants to do is create.” In 1930, he leaves Vienna with the intention of reaching Alexandria, but rough seas redirect his boat to Rhodes, where he falls in love with the island and decides to make it his permanent home. In 1934, he assumes the artistic direction of ICARO and introduces a series of his own designs, including the Virgin of Filerimou, into its production. Next is Nikolas Yasiranis, a folk potter from the village of Archangelos, who is hired by ICARO as a potter. Huber frequently visits Yasiranis on his motorcycle in Archangelos, and they even go hunting together. In 1942, Yasiranis departs from ICARO and returns to his modest workshop. With limited resources and materials, he continues to create ceramics using the knowledge he gained from ICARO and travels around the villages with his donkey to sell his creations. Lastly, there is Eleni Koutounis, the little girl in the photograph who colors the boat of Ikaros. In 1957, still a young girl, she immigrates to Australia, and I have no further information about her.

The exhibition “Hic Rhodes”* takes place within this emotionally charged environment. It attempts to retrace the lost and found points, the signs of a receding world. While the story of Ikaros is relatively recent, it is already a story lost in time. Its unchanging world bears witness to something, yet it also leaves something unsaid in its silence. The artists participating in the exhibition are invited to engage, within the aesthetic environment of their era, in the very act of remembrance. They are asked to evoke in their work the memory of things and confront their captivating allure. Their approach is not dictated by formalism, but rather by the transparency of a decorative script with its motifs—the floral decorations, the mythical saz leaf, the sailing ships, the deer, and the birds. It is an established aesthetic environment that holds true, always timeless in its truth.

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*Note: The exhibition “Hic Rhodes” refers to a specific exhibition mentioned in the text.

A production of ICARO Contemporary Art Gallery & Agency and space52

Curator: Apostolis Artinos

Artists: Dionisis Christofilogiannis, Maria Economides, Ioanna, Hatzipanigyri, Maria Ikonomopoulou, Stella Kapezanou, Apostolos Karakatsanis, Konstantinos Ladianos, Natalia Manta, Kyriaki Mavrogiorgi, Maro Michalakakou, Dimitris Neveskiotis, Giorgos Tserionis, Dimitris Frangakis, Leoni Yagdjoglou.

Space52, Larnakos 28, Αθήνα.

Hatzikostanis family archive photos