Hello world

Thanks to everyone for your kind messages! Getting this residency was a real blessing. I'm slowly starting to make this space my own, but it still needs a lot of work. I'll be keeping you all updated on the progress. I've also started working on my first painting! Let's see how it turns out. Here's a picture of me taking a relaxing bath after a long second day. 💆‍♀️ #blessed #instagramresidency #instaresidency

@hayazeinalabidin paid me a surprise visit today at the #residency, so we decided to visit some museums to get the creative juices flowing 💦 here we are appreciating some #stilllife #instagramresidency

Found this #rose while clearing out the garden at the #residency today. The space will be finished soon and I'm so excited to share it with you! I've been working really hard on it and I'm feeling exhausted, but it's all worth it. Once it's finished I'll be spending more time there, so I gave the rose to @hayazeinalabidin so she doesn't get mad at me. I'm so happy she liked it! 🌹😍 #instagramresidency 

Finally finished with setting up the #residency studio! 🤗 I'm so excited to start working! #feelinginspired #instagramresidency

Because what is an #artiststudio without some #sunflowers ?? I'm so happy with my new workspace, it turned out beautiful! Finally found a place for that yellow couch and the spare coffee table I had lying around in storage. Hours and hours of hard work really paid off and now I'm directing all of my energy and inspiration to producing some new work! Who knew being an artist would be so rewarding, on so many levels! #blessed #artist #instagramresidency

What better way to #relax after a very #productive day at the #residency than a bit of #yoga on the rooftop of the studio! I spent the evening being #thankful for the way life brings things around, and the #opportunities that this residency has sent my way! 😌 #instagramresidency

I had some visitors at the #studio yesterday, to talk to them about the #residency and my #ongoing projects. Even though I asked them not to take any photos, I was so immersed in the #creativeflow that I didn't notice those rascals snapping away. You guys! 🙈 #instagramresidency

I had to take a quick break from the #residency to spend some time at home with friends and family (especially grumpy @hayazeinalabidin). Quality time to disengage from your work, collect your #thoughts and #appreciate all the good things that life brings your way is always #needed. Please don't worry, I will be back with regular #updates soon! Here's a picture of Foucault from this morning, after we'd all opened our presents. Wishing everyone a #blessed Christmas! 🎄😌 #instagramresidency

@roxannehadjineophytou snapped this #cheeky photo while I was immersed in Barry Dainton's "Self" 🙈#chilling #friends4eva #incense #instagramresidency

I've taken some time off preparing for my work in progress #exhibition at the #residency, to work on my little #bonsai tree in the yard. 🌲 I needed to recompose my ideas and tending to my green friend helped realign my thinking and remind me where I come from, who I really am and all that I can achieve when I set my #goals! 😈 #determined #bringiton #2018 #instagramresidency

Saying that this holiday period has been #extraordinary is an understatement! And it's not #Christmas if you don't put on a few pounds... I blame @hayazeinalabidin 's impeccable cooking skills 🙄 Here's to a new year full of #creativity, #love, being #true to yourself and finding out who you really are while #achieving all of your #goals! Here's also to me losing all the weight I gained 😂 HAPPY #2018 EVERYONE! #happynewyear #instagramresidency

I've started working on my first #painting 😈 can't wait to share it with you soon hehe #instagramresidency #sunflowers #studio

My first #painting as part of the #residency is finally up in the #studio! I've been so in love with the whole experience that I thought what better way to #express that feeling than by painting the space where all the #magic happens ✨ I'm hard at work on the next one! #2018 starting off with a #bang 💥 #instagramresidency

Just finished my #second #painting for the #residency! The first one looked so great over my couch, and I've been having such a great time here that I thought I would continue this series of odes to this lovely space 😍😘 #instagramresidency

Third time's the charm! 🌟 My third and final #painting is up on the #studio wall! I couldn't be more #proud in this moment. I really want to thank my friend @kinezaaa who has been supporting me throughout this amazing #journey with her #tender #erotic #tunes. You go girl! 👯‍♀️ #triptych #instagramresidency

I uh.. Caught a #cold? 🙄 Will be back soon, working on some of the last pieces for the #residency! I've also planned a #roadtrip to the surrounding area for the end of the month before the residency ends, and I cant wait! 😈 #excited #instagramresidency #procrasturbation

Whew 😪 working on this #mural has been hard work, but at least it's got me off my ass. My #cold is over and running up and down in creative fervor has made me lose those #ChristmasPounds 🙄 finally feeling myself again! #proud #transformationthursday #instagramresidency

First #unapologetically set-up #selfie of the year, to celebrate me being #blonde again! 💇‍♀️💛 I’ve been so #productive with my #work for the #residency I thought I would treat myself, just in time for my #roadrip next week 🚙 #CANTWAIT #SOEXCITED #somysterious #instagramresidency

Definitely did not just drop everything I’m working on at the moment to #paint this wall on the #rooftop of the #residency and then waited around for hours until the tree #shadow was #justright only to show off my new #pink hair! 💖#pinkhairdontcare #instagramresidency #selfie

Tomorrow I’m leaving to go for a #roadtrip to #Lucis (a #kingdom apparently 👑). I will try to post photos as much as possible depending on the coverage! Apparently it’s really #beautiful. When I’m back I’ll be busy setting up the end-of-the-residency #exhibition which I can’t wait for! 😆😱 For now here’s a snap of me contemplating materials for my next #Garden #installation 🌾#instagramresidency

Just arrived in #Altissia! It’s so freakin’ #beautiful here it’s almost #unreal. The whole city is filled with #waterfalls and floating #canals 💦 looks so much like #Venice! Gonna take the #gondola to our BnB soon, and after a day or two here we’ll be moving on with our #roadtrip! 🚗 ✨#landscape #travelphotography #instagramresidency

Sorry I’ve been so #absent lately. We’ve been #hiking through some pretty #remote areas so signal has been spotty ⚡️ This country is so beautiful and I’m so #blessed that my friend Noctis has been acting as my #tourguide all through it. Here’s a nice #photo of him from one of our hikes in #Duscae 🖤 #nofilter #trees #nature #roadtrip #instagramresidency

Yesterday we had the incredible #opportunity to see the #Midgardsormr in its natural habitat in #Cleigne 🐍 This gigantic 33m #snake lives on its own, defending its expansive territory from intruders by spraying out #venom 💦 ... which is why we were standing well away on the other side of the river to snap this photo ☔️🙄 We’ll be in the area a few more days so #hmu if you’d like to join us for exploring the Greyshire Glacial Grotto! ⛄️ #roadtrip #sightseeing #safari #instagramresidency

So earlier today we took our car for a bit of #offroad fun... and Noctis (trying to avoid a herd of wild Mesmenir) somehow managed to #crash the car 😩💀 don’t worry though, we’re all safe and fine ✅ we’ll be spending the night at this little hostel (don’t really know where) and hopefully we’ll get a mechanic to come look at the car tomorrow! ☀️ #adventure #carcrash #roadtrip #instagramresidency

Noctis and I finally made our way to the Rock of #Ravatogh in #Cleigne. This towering #volcano can be seen throughout the country so naturally I’ve had my eyes on it ever since I got here 👀 It is said that the fiery protrusions are the horns of the god #Ifrit who fell in battle against #Bahamut during the War of the Astrals 🤓 We might be attempting the dangerous #climb one of these days, but for now I’ll leave you with a snap of Noctis and his #chocobo, Ocoboc, at the #hotsprings near Verinas at the base of the mountain ⛰ 🌅 #roadtrip #mythology #history #landscapephotography #travelphotography #instagramresidency

We met up with Gladio, one of Noctis’ friends from Lestallum and we’re heading to a couple of our final #destinations for this #trip... if only they’d ever stop #arguing 🚫❌⁉️ I snapped this photo while they were “discussing” which is the best way to go... 😩 #everybodychill #beautifulmoments #field #travelphotography #nature #landscapephotography #roadtrip #instagramresidency

🌱 We’ve managed to find ourselves in a #swamp 🙊 Our car broke down (again...) outside this #abandoned and #flooded #quarry at Fodina Casestino so we thought we’d get out of the car for some #exploring while we wait for help 🚙 💥 Hopefully Gladio won’t get eaten by an alligator or something 🐊#travelphotography #landscapephotography #roadtrip #travel #instagramresidency

While our car is still broken down 🔥 we’ve been exploring the beautiful #ruins of Costlemark Tower. The site is apparently a remnant of the ancient Solheim Empire and extends #underground into a #labyrinth of deadly corridors... so I’ll just be spending my time shooting #timelapses up here in the fresh air thank you very much ☀️😎 #travelphotography #archeology #tower #antiquites #sun #doorways #arch #architecture #roadtrip #instagramresidency

It’s been an #amazing few weeks which allowed me to #rest and collect my thoughts after some really mentally #exhausting time in the #studio 💥 I feel #blessed for the #friends who made this #trip possible, as well as all the #newfriends met along the way 👯‍♂️ thank you so much guys, you really are the #BEST and I have to say last night’s #camping was heavily emotional for me. But like all good things, this #roadtrip must unfortunately come to an #end 😔 I’ll be heading back to the #Residency where I’ll be preparing for my first #solo #exhibition opening next Thursday, February 22nd! #SOEXCITED 🌟 #cantwait #goodbyessuck #endings #landscapephotography #travelphotography #instagramresidency

🛬 #Finally got back in late last night to @hayazeinalabidin waiting for me at the #residency 💘 We started #unpacking my #luggage in the middle of the night (mainly trying to get to the unpronouncable bottles of #alcohol I brought back) but I was so #exhausted I passed out on the #couch😴💤 #goodtobehome #backhome #laundry #instagramresidency

I’ve only been back one day and I’m already on those #emails 😫had a #latenight in the #studio with @kinezaaa who was working on the #exhibition text 🌙 she snapped this pic while I was immersed in working on the #invites for the #show 📩#instagramresidency will be opening at The Residency this Thursday at 2PM GMT+2 and I really hope to see you all there 😌✨🌾

Part 1/4 of exhibition text by @kinezaaa

The Residency welcomes you all to the first ever #solo exhibition ever of #AdonisArchontides’ groundbreaking work, titled #instagramresidency, directly as a result of his #residency with The Residency!

The Residency is a community-driven artist-in-residence program funding and promoting #emergingartists with its purpose to transform and diversify the production of contemporary visual art. The program encourages #autonomy and the artist’s individual mode of making, contributing significant monetary and immeasurable emotional support through the provision of an uninhibited, uninterrupted and directionless space for creative labour. Additionally, the artist in residence receives a fully-funded leisure #stipend to relieve the stress of art-making, with the hopes of spiking #creativity and facilitating more artistic production. Hence, The Residency’s self-approved ethos of peer-to-peer artist commendation innovates the means of such production and invites the artists for a solo show priming them for future institutional opportunities.

Archontides (b. 1991) has been an artist in residence with The Residency since December 2017, whereby his body of work has only continued to gain momentum with 758 (and rising) followers on Instagram observing his real-time #documentation. By utilising these bestowed resources, he has managed to remarkably expand his oeuvre for his first solo show ever titled #instagramresidency. For #instagramresidency, he relies on the themes of post-painting, conducts subtle yet meaningful alterations to his existing work titled Garden, and further explores his performative discourse through the lens of photographic and experiential documentation.

Part 2/4 of exhibition text by @kinezaaa

Over the three months of his stay, he has produced one singular series of three paintings, titled #triptych, all unique in style and approach as they reinvent modes of painterly repetitious gestures. Utilising his temporarily-donated studio as his primary inspiration, the work evokes a discourse of stagnation within the practice of post-painterly still life painting as portrayed within an environment of relentless labour.

Still life painting traditionally includes all kinds of man-made or natural objects including cut flowers, fruit, vegetable, fish, game, wine and so on and so on. Archontides, consistently conveying competence within his #triptych, inserts his viewer within a frame of a frame, reflecting on the brevity of creative labour and addressing the timeless rhetorical query of “Is my work any good?”.

The obvious answer to such a retort inevitably being the reassuring embrace into a program like The Residency. Respectively, all three paintings forming #triptych, retain their rarity of expression with utmost gravity.

#AdonisArchontides, #triptych, 2018, series of three digital paintings.

Part 3/4 of exhibition text by @kinezaaa

For his forthcoming rendition of Garden, humbly titled #Garden, #AdonisArchontides continues to toy with his namesake and his #makeshift gardens transforming his residency studio’s garden into a #monument of #labour – a labour of #love.

In the past, Garden has surveyed the #failures of humanity in various sociopolitical aspects of self-important and self-indulgent existence. Now, with The Residency’s support, Garden adopts a more #hopeful outlook on failure. Archontides adapted #Garden to relay itself through the natural cycle of #artproduction where the materials used to construct the primary structure are composed of #recycled paintings dismissed after the making of #triptych. By assembling materials that were taken out of context and stripped of conventional function, Archontides reclaims their position as being an #authentic #artwork, fulfilling their purpose as an ode to the structure that allowed them and himself to continue their existence, The #Residency itself.

Such an action of craft transforms #Garden into a monument of artist-making and institutional appreciation where no clear message is built into the work #conceptually, but instead is built into the work #physically. Finally, through shifting the use of ordinarily submerged objects, such as the pool ladder, Archontides contemplates and creates a #parable between the object and the opportunity presenting itself as a means of rising to #stardom.

#AdonisArchontides, #Garden, 2017, digital plants, flowers, wood, vases, canvases, and pool ladder, dimensions variable.

Part 4/4 of exhibition text by @kinezaaa

Towards the final two weeks of the #residency, the resident is allowed a generous #stipend to undertake a journey as a way of #meditating on what they’ve produced and #motivating their ideas forward after The Residency. #AdonisArchontides took the opportunity to escape to the otherworldly kingdom of Lucis, making stops at enchanted and mythical landscapes such as the Rock of Ravatogh in Cleigne. Through the #hardships of his endeavours, the #experiences of being trapped and anchored in swamps and cheap hostels, the artist’s experiences are transcribed into images depicting multiple #ephemeral narratives of multifarious realities. The photographic series, titled #roadtrip, undertaken solely through the curatorial medium of Instagram, provides a sense of #escapism from the hardships of daily life and the labouring landscape of artistic production. #roadtrip, premiered on Instagram before gracing the walls of The Residency, framing itself as art-as-experience - the artist inviting the public to follow his journey into uncharted domains.

Archontides received an impressive first set of Instagram #reviews from renowned London based PR agent, @strawbst, featuring phrases such as “🌿🌿💚 I LIVE FOR THIS SHIT”. We are confident that through The Residency, Archontides will now be considered for entry into the databases of ArtFacts.net as an officially recognised and ranked global #artist.

#AdonisArchontides, #roadtrip, 2018, Series of four digital photographs.

My #instagramresidency is, at long last, over 😢 I’m very saddened to be leaving this fantastic space after three long months of #growing within its walls… 🌱 I’m so #grateful to myself for selecting me for this project, and I feel #blessed for all the #friends and #colleagues I’ve made along the way. I’ve been informed that I was such a great resident that I’m welcome back whenever I want, so #hmu for any future #collaborations 💖 for now, I’m heading #home 🏠

back to #reality