k kmmvPhoto Credit: K. Jennifer Bedford

Circular Logic
(Acrylic on canvas, repurposed library display), 2009
60" x 60" x 60"

"Pairing idiosyncratic themes and author’s side-by-side, for Circular Logic the artist elected to display her book paintings within a system of modular glass cubes chosen in response to the new releases display at the central branch of the Cambridge Libraries. Alternately suggesting a futurist kiosk or Rubik’s cube, her display contains a micro-library of twenty-seven titles, connected less by content than by their covers and the ubiquitous use of arrows in each design. The arrows delineate a circuitous path through the structure of the cube, sometimes pointing towards or away from their literary counterparts. A random selection of titles includes: The Use of Lateral Thinking, Gestalt Therapy, Escape from Freedom, and Last Exit to Brooklyn. The logic between these selections is anything but linear; in fact, Partheniou’s choices tend to privilege lateral thinking and subconscious associations over logic and reason. Taken individually, each of the selections confers a level of authority within a specific field of knowledge or expertise. Collectively however, the pairings suggest the possibility for dialogue, debate, disagreement, and ideally collaboration."

- Ivan Jurakic, from Circular Logic, brochure essay, Cambridge Galleries, 2008