BRITISH artist Chris Hawtin’s work at the FokiaNou art space in Athens these days, has an eerie, gothic feel to it. His atmospheric, chiaroscuro, and mostly miniature oil paintings (albeit with maximum detail), are heavily varnished to a glossy finish, exuding the character of an old master. Details such as the light filtering in through …
Stella Sevastopoulos talks to artist Margarita Radeva about the pros and cons of following an art career today, her experience as an art education professional, and more… THERE are many who teach art, but not many who do it properly. In many schools, art is considered of no importance, hence an excuse for the art …
Stella Sevastopoulos speaks to Dr David Anfam about the current exhibition of works by Lynda Benglis, on show in Athens at the Museum of Cycladic Art’s Stathatos Mansion: THE EXHIBITION ‘Lynda Benglis: In the Realm of the Senses’ at the Museum of Cycladic Art’s Stathatos Mansion in Athens (runs till March 15), heralds the first …
IN THE HEART of Athens, on the 7th floor of a typically grungy inner city block of flats, you will find a real gem of an alternative art space, where contemporaneity of all forms and mediums features in the show ‘Love and Disaster in Athens’ these days. The works of 32 artists were selected after …
Marina Syntelis is an artist whose exploration of the power of the sea, has attracted the interest of many a collector over the past few years in particular. In the UK, she is represented by the Papillon Gallery. But the creative journey that got her there – to her awe-inspiring renditions of the structures …
Many expats come to Greece to live and work, and some of them have offered so much to the arts scene. I think that especially after the Documenta14 art show, which drew arty people from around the world to Athens, that this city is becoming a kind of Greenwich village, attracting many artists who can …
If you haven’t been to the new Goulandris Museum of Modern Art in Athens, then do! It’s a wonderful experience. The collection of works by modernist masters and contemporary pioneers is awesome. Here’s a link to my article on this grand addition to the Athenian art scene.
According to Stavros Mihalarias, a prominent restorer and art dealer of Greece, the Greek artists are the bad boys of art, because they don’t play by the rules. To find out more, read my interview with him, where we also discuss his relationship with the recently deceased artist Takis, who’s show is on at …
Recently I wrote about Art Athina for the Neos Kosmos newspaper in Australia. I got to interview Anna Pappas, Greek-Australian gallery owner who has participated in this fair for the past seven years. See the link if you want to find out more…
Stella Sevastopoulos celebrates Mother’s Day with a homage to mother artists, their trials and tribulations, in the history of art and in modern-day Greece: The truth is that most women artists have had a pretty tough time trying to penetrate the glass ceilings of the art world in general – a chauvinistic, male-dominated profession up …
Stella Sevastopoulos of ‘Art Scene Athens’ talks to Greek-Australian artist Chrys Roboras who has managed to spread her wings and exhibit around the world, with great success. CHRYS ROBORAS loves to place the human figure in vast, colourful semi-abstract landscapes. In some works her figures are depicted as an outline which has been filled in …
CAN MARBLE be stripped bare of its past glory? Can it be disassociated from its ancient associations, and be re-cast into a contemporary role, as a harbinger of the ugly truth and reality of today’s society? “It’s just a material”, argues artist Andreas Lolis, whose current in-situ exhibition at the British School at Athens (which …
THE YANNIS MORALIS retrospective exhibition at the Benaki Pireos, pays hommage to this great Greek artist’s oeuvre by presenting the many sides of his creative magnificence. It traces Moralis’ mastery of many mediums, styles and forms of art: his early realistic works, his sombre portraits, still-lifes that hark back to De Chirico, works inspired by …
STELLA SEVASTOPOULOS interviews Rosalind Forster, an artist who has divided her time between England’s Derbyshire and Greece’s Spetses, creating unique watercolours and linocut prints in the process: EVERY now and then, you discover a new artist, and a whole new way of seeing the world through their work. I had such an experience recently, …
Despite the hard times that Greece is (still) going through, Stella Sevastopoulos’s show ‘Greek Inspiration’ at Placebo draws from Greek nature, culture and myth, in order to look beyond the current socio/political situation and instead to imbue its visitors with a positive perspective on contemporary ‘Greekness’: Those of you who live in the Southern …
Stella Sevastopoulos of ‘Art Scene Athens’, talks to acclaimed Greek artist Chryssa Verghi and gallery director Natalia Markou on their art escapades in the Middle East: WITH the Greek crisis still crippling the population, it’s no wonder that many have looked towards the Middle East for a better economic future, including some Greek artists. One …
‘Art Scene Athens’ talks to artist Lila Papoula about her exhibition ‘Walls that were hiding our faces’, at the Evripides Gallery, which runs till December 9: IN THE EIGHTIES, artist Lila Papoula searched the streets for derelict walls, which she photographed. She was drawn to these remaining fragments of people’s lives, not only because of …
‘Art Scene Athens’ talks to artist Maria Hadjiandreou about her new exhibition entitled ‘The Gaze’, at Gallery 7, in which the artist not only captures the character of her sitters but also searches deep into their psyche: MARIA Hadjiandreou’s work of the last two years are portraits inspired by the artist’s heightened sensibility. Whilst perusing …
‘Art Scene Athens’ catches up with Dimitrios Antonitsis – a curator and artist who has been illustriously active on the Greek art scene for 20 years now, and the mastermind behind the show ‘Integral II’, at the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre: I first met curator/artist Dimitrios Antonitsis two decades ago, when I had just started …
‘Art Scene Athens’ speaks with artist Kostis Velonis at his exhibition opening, to get some feedback on his new installation project, commissioned by NEON Organisation, that explores the intriguing sociopolitical and personal history of a beautiful neoclassical home in the heart of Athens: EACH HOUSE has its story – a narrative about its many occupants …
SINCE its inauguration two years ago, the Evripides Gallery has brought a breath of fresh air to the cultural scene of Athens’ Kolonaki classiness. Housed in the former ‘House of Cyprus’ (the historic cultural hub of the Cypriot Embassy), the Evripides Gallery has been founded by collectors Kostas and Nasia Evripides, and their daughter Eirene. …
GOING to an art show, or even trying to practice art, isn’t really top on the list of ‘things to do’ for many people. And that’s a shame, because art has a lot to offer, for people of all ages and classes. In fact recent studies argue that the homo sapiens were more advanced than …
“The whole world is indebted to Greece” stated the famed Argentinian artist Marta Minujin after her performance at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (or EMST), in Athens. Entitled ‘Payment of the Greek Debt to Germany with Olives and Art’, the performance took place at EMST on April 8, (the inauguration day of documenta 14), …
ZOI PAPPA has achieved what many young Greek artists are striving for these days: the growing appreciation and successful exhibiting of her work abroad. She just found out that she will be participating in the Arte Art Prize Laguna, taking place at the Arsenale of Venice (March 25 to April 9), about a month before …
LIKE HIS beloved material of glass, which he has tirelessly transformed into monumental sculptural forms, Costas Varotsos is sharp, cool and transparent – in the sense that he is unafraid to speak his mind. There are not many contemporary Greek sculptors who are also international names, however Varotsos is one of them. With his public …
I RECENTLY interviewed one of Greece’s most well-known and definitely most contemporary of artists – Eleni Mylonas – for the Athens Insider Magazine . As is the case with interviews, a lot of material remains unpublished. I felt it was a shame to let this material get lost in time, and to never be shared, because …
DIONISIS KAVALLIERATOS’ show at the Bernier/Eliades includes some intriguing glazed ceramic pottery – like you’ve never seen before. How about a pyramid of philosophers? Or maybe bird watching is more your thing – in a gallery? ”Birds are beautiful animals and they carry all kinds of symbolism and associations”, says Kavallieratos about his series of …
THERE are so many elements that converge in Chryssa Verghi’s art. Among her painted odes to nature, you will spot references to certain crucial crossroads in the history of art and landscape painting, such as her painted encomium to Monet ‘s ‘ Water Lillies’, a touch of Romanticism’s passion for the sublime and mystical in …
Originally posted on Daniel Pateman:
There is something restorative about Stella Sevastopoulos’s paintings. Whether turning her gaze on the Greek coast’s undulating waves and their shifting hues of green and blue, or producing more intricate geometric designs, her artistic practice evidences the natural balance of the world, and a desire to regain it in our…
THE CENTRE of Athens is hosting some top-notch art shows at the moment, well worth the visit. What’s more talks are on offer by the artists too. On Saturday, April 13. Chryssa Verghi will be giving a guided tour of her painting exhibition ‘Flumen Vitae’ (runs till May 5), at the Evripides Gallery, at noon. … Continue reading
To celebrate its 30 years of cultural activity in Glyfada, the Society of Arts and Letters has organised an ‘Arty Party’, plus a group show entitled ‘Painting Without End’ with works by Louiza Delfis, Tove Margaritis, Dora Tombrou, Efi Pardou, and journalist/art blogger Stella Sevastopoulos. Read on to meet the painters, in an article where … Continue reading
THE EVRIPIDES Gallery pays hommage to one of Greece’s most inspirational creative figures, who was pivotal in the development of the decorative and applied arts in this country, via the creation of the Vakalo School of Art and Design, which celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. George Vakalo (1902-1991, real name George Vakalopoulos) excelled especially … Continue reading
IN THE age of the Greek crisis, some artists look further towards alternative methods of creativity and materials. Most traditional art materials are expensive, but there are also options that are free, and everywhere: arte povera was a movement that pioneered this approach in a conceptual manner, back in the Sixties and Seventies. Today, … Continue reading
“MY SOUL is often a back street on Mykonos when night begins to fall”, wrote Surrealist artist/poet Nikos Engonopoulos back in 1939. I imagine those back streets were pretty quiet in those days, and nothing like they are today, since Mykonos became Greece’s party island par excellence. But this island does have an arty side … Continue reading
Here’s a ‘potpourri’ of my art, inspired by Greece’s nature, light and myth… Continue reading
