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 …
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
ATHENS continues to beguile art lovers with a wide gamut of artistic events and shows on offer. What’s more, spring is in the air, so it is a perfect time to take to the streets, enjoy the sun, and some art. Here’s a potpourri of what’s on offer (see also ‘February’s fab 5 (+1)’ for … Continue reading
HERE’S a ‘petit’ potpourri for February, which presents the diverse range of art on show in Athens at the moment: from historic naval battles to contemporary bearded provocation. There are many more quality exhibitions around town of course worth seeing, so I’ve also added another five shows in pictures at the end, for your perusal. … Continue reading
THE WORKS of acclaimed writer Michel Fais become the inspiration for eleven painters and a photographer to create art, the results of which can be found at the Sotiris Felios Collection: ELEVEN painters and one photographer draw inspiration from the writings of Michel Fais. The result? Some motivated, mysterious, thought-provoking art works, that make up … Continue reading
