The Light that Burns

16.09.25 - 07.11.25

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The Light that Burns is a book of collected poems by Greek poet Kostas Varnalis. It was originally written in 1919, and was first published in 1922.

The Light that Burns, 2025 is an exhibition of paintings that explores the act of making as an event in space, and the conditions that shape it.

The Light that Burns is a continuation of ideas first shared publicly during Notes and Counter Notes on the Light that Burns, a one-day presentation at Atelier Amden, Amden, Switzerland.

Bio

Anastasia Pavlou (b. 1993, Athens, Greece) is a painter based in Basel. This summer, she participated in a residency at Gasworks, London, leading up to her solo exhibition in Athens opening in September and a solo presentation at Frieze in October. Her work has been shown at institutions across Switzerland, including Atelier Amden (2025), Kunstmuseum Appenzell (2024), Kunsthaus Baselland (2023), and Kunsthalle Basel (2022). She completed her MFA at the FHNW HGK Institut Kunst Gender Natur in 2023, after which she presented a solo project with the gallery at Liste, Basel, and went on to hold solo exhibitions at Hot Wheels Athens and Hot Wheels London in the fall, the latter inaugurating the gallery’s new space. In 2019, Pavlou was the youngest artist featured in The Same River Twice, a landmark survey of the Greek art scene curated by Margot Norton and Natalie Bell at the Benaki Museum, Athens. Her work is held in the DESTE and CELINE collections.

Installation view

Anastasia Pavlou, Ophelia, 2024, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 190 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Ophelia [detail], 2024, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 190 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Into a Mirror World, 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 190 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Into a Mirror World [detail], 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 190 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, The Clamorous Life of a House Painter X, 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, The Clamorous Life of a House Painter XI, 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, The Clamorous Life of a House Painter XII, 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Herbst, 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 190 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Herbst [detail], 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 190 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, One Thing in Abundance in This Farm and That’s Crows, 2024, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 200 x 200 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, One Thing in Abundance in This Farm and That’s Crows [detail], 2024, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 200 x 200 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, What Would it Mean if I Were a Chiselled, Sculpted Stone, What Would It Mean if One Could Move Only Between Two Rooms, One Containing the Objects, the Other the Voices, to Move Through the Rooms in a Fat Gush of Light, What would it Mean if These Rooms Contained Every Space, Every Morning, 2024, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 150 x 100 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Self Portrait II, 2025, Gesso, charcoal on canvas, 30 x 40 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Colour, Shape, 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 290 cm

Anastasia Pavlou, Colour, Shape [detail], 2025, Oil, water, gesso on canvas, 190 x 290 cm