THE STAVROS Niarchos Foundation Cultural Centre (SNFCC), has witnessed around 25,000 visitors per week since August. On February 23, the 620 million euro centre which was solely funded by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF), was officially handed over to the Greek state. The SNFCC is the new home of the Greek National Opera (GNO) and … Continue reading
Category Archives: greece
The Guerilla Girls in Athens
THE GUERILLA GIRLS are putting on their guerrilla masks, and coming to town. Their performances in museums, universities and elsewhere around the world have already taken the art world by storm. Now it’s our turn to witness their antics up close. They will be taking the central stage of the Onassis Cultural Centre on March … Continue reading
Kounellis: The poetry in poor materials
THE PIONEERING Greek artist Jannis Kounellis, internationally renowned for his avant-garde artistic ingenuity, and considered the father of Arte Povera, passed away in Rome, at the age of 80, on February 16. Rome had become his home since 1956, when he moved there and enrolled in the Accademia di Belle Arti, after not having passed … Continue reading
Love is in the… art
FROM ANCIENT times, the Greek god Eros has been shooting his arrows all over the place, inspiring many artists from around the world to focus on the winged deity, or the outcomes of his actions. But many Greek artists have also spoken of love in their art, in one way or another. Here is how … Continue reading
Five for February
Greek seascapes in focus The Greek sea has inspired many a Greek painter, and the Theocharakis Foundation’s new show, which will be inaugurated on February 15, pays homage to the many Greek artists who have created outstanding seascapes over the years. The exhibition comprises works from two most important collections – the National Gallery of … Continue reading
Varotsos: ‘Art is life and the transformation of life into art’
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 … Continue reading
The ‘Abyss’ in Athens
NEON organisation’s contemporary art show ‘Flying Over the Abyss’, is another example of how Athens is both exceedingly ancient and totally avant-garde. Comprising 41 works, by 34 international and Greek artists, but also including the original manuscript of Nikos Kazantzakis’ ‘Ascesis: Saviours of the Gods’, the show presents the diversity of the contemporary art scene … Continue reading
DESTE’s 33 years of contemporaneity
CAN a movement be created by a collector? This is a question that arises after having read the colourful, heavy brick of a tome ‘DESTE 33 Years, 1983-2015’. Via its 868 pages, this book documents the activity of an art foundation that has rocked the senses of the Greek public (and beyond) since the Eighties. … Continue reading
Botsoglou’s mountain
CHRONIS Botsoglou’s room with a view on Lesvos, had visually intrigued him from the ’70s, when he first started to study the view of the mountain from his window. But it was only in the last eight years that he dared to actually paint it. The National Bank of Greece’s Educational Foundation (MIET, Eynard Mansion) … Continue reading
The state of art today in Greece
IT’S Freize Art Fair in London at the moment. Sales are going well, the jet-set art lovers have flocked like groupies from around the world to check out one of the most prestigious fairs of its kind. But Londoners too from all walks of life will pay a visit in order to get a ‘zing’ … Continue reading