{"id":1773,"date":"2021-07-20T11:00:22","date_gmt":"2021-07-20T11:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ciy.azu.mybluehost.me\/blogs\/athenomania\/"},"modified":"2024-07-30T09:11:50","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T09:11:50","slug":"athenomania","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/warped-development.com\/en\/blogs\/athenomania\/","title":{"rendered":"Athenomania"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Author: Dejan Vu\u010deti\u0107 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Aside from the already well-known European art centres that enjoy the reputation of top-notch<\/em>, hype<\/em>, or edgy<\/em> creative Meccas like Berlin, London, Rotterdam, Paris, Rome, Basel, Madrid and others, only 80 minutes from Belgrade by air, there lies a city whose art scene increasingly attracts young artists, curators, gallerists and art collectors: it\u2019s Athens, the busy capital of Greece, at the foot of the Acropolis. <\/p>\n\n

Once you have visited the most significant of the city\u2019s museums (the National Archaeological Museum, the Acropolis Museum, the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the Benaki Museum, the Museum of Cycladic Art and others), it is time to start enjoying the galleries, whose programmes immensely contribute to the rich cultural offer of this hectic metropolis, adding a taste of something alternative, fresh, even offbeat<\/em>. The policies, histories and credos of the galleries are quite different, and, therefore, offer diverse conceptual approaches and programmes. All of the above creates an exciting assortment and shapes each gallery\u2019s DNA. At the same time this creates an environment where audiences are offered a plethora of options to choose from, based on their affinities, tastes and interests: they can opt for an exhibition of an acclaimed twentieth-century modernist, or see a debut show of a young aspiring artist. Some gallerists (especially those belonging to younger generations) are quite unbiased and liberated from prejudices, so they choose to stage artists-autodidacts, whose visual language brings something new and unconventional, attracting both art audience and critics. <\/p>\n\n

A vast number of galleries boasts a well-balanced synergy between their exhibitive (artistic) and commercial (sales) practices, as well as the openness towards novel visual expressions and experiments. Art market is quite lively and allows for the emergence of new contents. Innovative and fresh energy was also brought by Documenta 14<\/em><\/strong> in 2017, which besides Kassel, also took place in Athens. <\/p>\n\n

In this short review, we cherry-picked the galleries which stood out for their captivating programmes. As it was impossible to cover all galleries in Athens, for the purpose of this review, we shortlisted eight of them, as their programmes and agendas struck us as particularly inspiring. <\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

The Breeder<\/strong>Iasonos 45, 104 36 Athensmap: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/yHsNgC5GqLAFYJpw9<\/p>\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/yHsNgC5GqLAFYJpw9\n <\/div><\/figure>\n\n

<\/a>www.thebreedersystem.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Ekene Stanley EmechetaTruthful waters <\/em>17 June \u2013 17 July 2021 <\/p>\n\n

The Breeder<\/strong>, perhaps one of the most influential and commercial galleries, was selected for its programme policy as an ultra-hype<\/em> creative hub in Athens. It was founded in 2002 by Stathis Panagoulisa and George Vamvakidis, who initiated their mission to bring together the Athens\u2019 and the international art scene by launching the magazine of the same name as early as 2000. Today, a number of young gallerists look up to this gallery as a point of reference and an example to follow. <\/p>\n\n

Behind the massive metal door, we step into a concrete cubic space of a marked industrial aesthetics, which on its two levels, enables the visitors to dive into contemporary art. The gallery displays different media and particularly prefers installations. Currently on view is a debut show by Ekene Stanley Emecheta<\/strong> titled Truthful Waters<\/em><\/strong>, an artist autodidact from Nigeria. It is the exhibition of paintings whose central characters are people from the artist\u2019s fantasy world, private life and past; their faces are strikingly featureless, almost faded to white. Their figuration is reduced, nearly flat and two-dimensional. The colouring is temperate and very reduced, focusing on cooler pastel shades. <\/p>\n\n

The pictures feature dark-skinned people painted in a lighter palette (the skin colour is almost whitish-grey, resembling theatrical makeup). Placed within the compositions resembling camera shots, some of the works may suggest a critical attitude towards racism. The painting Swimmer<\/strong>, for example, shows a man lying on an air mat in a pool, with his head resting on his hands clasped behind it, and as much as it implies relaxation and leisure, it may also suggest the posture during an arrest (Hands up!) Such dualism in reading is the main conceptual axis of this young artist. <\/p>\n\n

The portraits are not merely frontal figures that look the viewer directly in the eye, but they also have a meta-layer, pointing to some other, concealed reality.<\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Free Spirit, 2021, oil on canvas, 60 x 48 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

BERNER ELIADES<\/strong>Eptachalkou 11, 118 51 Atinamapa: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/GMbpqtoEzuN7E4FAAwww.bernier-eliades.com<\/p>\n\n

Peter BuggenhoutBefore the World has done it\u2019s dirty job27.05. \u2013 10.07.2021. <\/p>\n\n

In a peaceful tucked-in street in the Thissio neighbourhood, we find one of the cult Athens\u2019 galleries, founded in 1977 by Jean Bernier and Marine Eliades. The gallery is oriented towards acclaimed Greek and international twentieth- and twenty-first-century artists. It is credited with familiarizing the Greek audience with representative authors of art movements like minimalism, land art, arte povera and conceptual art. In 2016, the gallery extended its activity by opening another space in Brussels, and also in London in 2021. The show currently on view is a condensed retrospective of the Belgian artist Jean Bernier. The works are executed in a variety of materials (metal, textile, wood…), and as the artist himself says: \u201cIt is never my intention to create a symbolic representation of what is commonly referred to \u2018chaos<\/em>\u2019. In fact, the main purpose is to undermine any semblance of symbolism. My attempt is to create a reality, analogue to that which we live in. One layer after another, the sculptures become large autonomous lumps of reality, referring only to themselves, without the least trace of simplification or symbolism. Hereby creating objects that, given their complexity, are almost impossible to memorize, even for the perceptive spectator.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Mute Witness #18, 2020., 142x91x26 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Kalfayan Galleries Athens<\/strong>Haritos 11, 106 75 Atinamapa: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/UrhYrQhp1CEZEDKn7www.kalfayangalleries.com<\/p>\n\n

Vlassis Caniaris, Andreas Ragnar Kassapis, Maria Loizidou, Silvina Der Meguerditchian, MaroMichalakakos, Panos Tsagaris, Anna Maria Tsakali, Kostis VeloniPreview and Predict17.06. \u2013 03.07.2021 <\/p>\n\n

In the vibrant Kolonaki neighbourhood replete with galleries, the Kalfayan <\/strong>Galleries is particularly appealing. Behind the massive modernist glass wall, there is an attractive space oriented towards exhibiting prominent artists of the twentieth and twenty-first century. The gallery boasts a rather refined profile, staging edgy<\/em>, provocative and politically engaged artists, along with hoch-aestheticized<\/em> artwork. In June and July, it organised a show with somewhat humorous title, Preview and Prediction<\/strong><\/em>, thought out as a prelude for the \u201cnew reality\u201d in the aftermath of the pandemics, providing the visitors with an opportunity to anticipate what the gallery programme might look like in the near future. It is a group exhibition of artworks by some of the leading authors of the contemporary art scene. The work That one time you let me see through you<\/strong> is a meticulously painted canvas with the marked illustrative aesthetics. What occupies the artist in this particular series is spirituality, along with the phenomenon of geometry (maybe an echo of the Pythagoras\u2019s doctrine), seen through the prism of the rationally and fastidiously composed visual mise en sc\u00e8ne. In his work, the artist uses broken mirrors to create fragmentary schemes, which he then transposes onto canvas, achieving the effect of intensively treated surfaces. The spiritual quality is accomplished by the use of golden leaves, evoking the gold from Byzantine icons. His works boast extraordinary technical skills, an innovative approach to visual language and colouristic modification of shades executed to perfection. <\/p>\n\n

On the other hand, the artist Vlassis Caniaris<\/strong> employs aesthetics and arte povera methods in his artistic explorations with strong political context. His works often address the world of the Gastarbeiter emigrants, who left their homes (in Greece, but also countries of East Europe). When looking at the work Flag Bearer<\/strong>, the viewer confronts a nameless, faceless man who is holding in his raised hand a small piece of paper featuring the Red Cross sign\u2014the symbol of help, but also the cry of the invisible and uprooted, who are nothing more than labour force, and nuts and bolts of mass production. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Panos Tsagaris That one time You let me see through You, 2019. Mixed media on canvas, 147\u00d7111 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Vlassis Caniaris, Flag bearer (Nosa\u010d zastave), 1985. Mixed media, 124 x 68 x 30 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Ekfrasi \u2013 Yanna Grammatopoulou<\/strong>Valaoritou 9a, 106 71 Atinamapa: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/uf2iMSyPNmqn3ZZt8www.ekfrasi-art.gr<\/p>\n\n

Kostas Tsolis\/\/ A little bit of Paradise More17.06. \u2013 14.07.2021 <\/p>\n\n

One of the key Athens\u2019 galleries, successfully managed for more than twenty years by the energetic and quite charming gallerist Yanna Grammatopoulou, is the Ekfrasi <\/strong>gallery. It is interesting to note that in the period when the gallery\u2019s DNA was oriented towards acclaimed Greek and international artists, it staged Vladimir Veli\u010dkovi\u0107\u2019s works several times. <\/p>\n\n

Currently on view is the show by Kostas Tsolis<\/strong>, a professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts. His artwork, quite diverse in terms of media (paintings, sculptures, installations) addresses the questions of collective consciousness, presentations and ideas, which determine a particular time, but are also globally present. Still exploring smokescreens and revelations, the works partially lean on his previous cycle from 2013: White Noise<\/em><\/strong>. Behind the stripes (resembling bar codes) we make out the world that seems like a subliminal message. The stripes can also serve as a means of disrupting clarity. Images, which seem to protrude from behind a curtain, are hardly discernible, and more sensed. Does the \u201cnoise\u201d make them less real and reduce them to the world of contemporary phantasms (rather prevalent in the realm of modern media and the visual). Observing the works, the viewer is confronted with the questions of personal memory, value systems and what personal memorabilia represent to each one of us. Are these contents always true? In an insightfully thought-out, but also provocative critical artwork, this exhibition is more than just art, as it raises some very important questions: is the world really changing or we are living a made-up \u201creality\u201d, or some sort of simulacrum? <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
Family Time, 2. July, 2005-2011-2016. Mixed media on canvas, 181\u00d7120 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Roma Gallery<\/strong>Roma 5, Atina 106 73mapa: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/NnVJF6W3YrG2www.roma-gallery.com<\/p>\n\n

DANIL PanagopoylosLight, Physics and MetaphysicsFirst part of the exhibition: Youth 22.04. \u2013 14.06. 2021.Second part of the exhibition: Maturity 17.06. \u2013 06.09. 2021. <\/p>\n\n

Roma Gallery<\/strong> defined its exhibitive policy by focusing on already acclaimed post-war Greek artists. So far, it has exhibited the most prominent Greek authors of the second half of the twentieth century: Pavlos Dionysopylos, Alekos Fassianos, Dimitris Mytaras, Christos Kapralos, Vasso Katraki, Dimitris Alithinos, Vassilis Skylakos, George Zongolopoulos and others, who gave rise to the Athens\u2019 avant-garde scene. The gallery also stages group shows that include both European and world artists. The compact gallery space allows insight into a careful selection of works. Currently on view is Danil Panagopoylos\u2019s (1924-2008) show titled Danil \u2013 Light, Physical and Metaphysical<\/em><\/strong>, organized in two consecutive parts: Youth<\/em><\/strong> and M<\/strong>aturity<\/em><\/strong>. Youth <\/strong><\/em>comprised works from the artist\u2019s early practice, while currently, within the second part of the exhibition titled Maturity<\/em>, we can see works created later in his practice, and which are part of his family\u2019s private collection. Liberated from any narration and description, their three-dimensionality, suggestiveness and unconventionality take the viewer into the world where the barriers between the material and the metaphysical blur. Using delicate gradations and playing with light and shades, as well as by combining the materials (cardboard, wood, textile), the artist makes geometrized paintings-installations, creating a network of spatial ensembles. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
II \/ 85 , 1985, oil on burlap fabric, 186\u00d7159 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Without Title, 1972, oil on cardboard and wood, 71\u00d760 cm<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Allouche Benias Gallery<\/strong>Kanari 1, Athens, 106 71mapa: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/zM3dkyVPGYE2www.allouchebenias.com<\/p>\n\n

Lucille LittotMidnight Cinderella Sunrise Olympia 17.06. -14.07.2021 <\/p>\n\n

Giorgos TserionisKarma Carriers<\/p>\n\n

The gallery located on the corner of the Akadimias and Kanari streets opened in 2018 in Athens, after the first Allouche gallery had been founded in New York. is The gallery\u2019s programme favours mostly the American and Greek contemporary art scene, but also includes artists from other centres. A spacious two-floor mansion currently has two interesting shows on view: one by a Parisian, Lucile Littot, and another by a Greek artist Giorgos Tserionisa. Exhibition by the millennial artist Lucile Littot (1985) titled Midnight Cinderella Sunrise Olympia<\/em><\/strong> explores an imaginary world of female creatures, energies and myths. Verging on kitsch<\/em>, her flamboyant, almost baroque colours and plenitude of forms absorb us into the world of the artist\u2019s personal mythology. From paintings to ceramic installations, her artwork is dominated by curved lines, finesses, decorativeness and arabesque, conveying elation and exaltation. And as the artist herself put it: \u201cMy art works are personally seen as remains of talismans. They depict intimate stores with references to magical realms, art history, cinema and literature. These amulets survey various emotional states of mind and encompass different bodies subjected to distinctive emotions, thus recreating the idea of a novelesque autobiography.\u201d <\/p>\n\n

As opposed to the playful world of Lucile Littot, Giorgos Tserionis\u2019s exhibition titled Karma Carriers<\/em><\/strong> offers rather different aesthetics, and takes us into the world of zoomorphic and grotesque forms and fantastic creatures. His works incite a feeling of unrest, even discomfort, as they investigate fear, anxiety, astonishment and anticipation: it feels as if the viewers encounter their own Jung\u2019s shadow, or reality, as it truly is. The works seem to evoke the echo of Hieronymus Bosch\u2019s visions and the unearthly world of Swedenborg\u2019s Heaven and Hell. The paintings bear strong self-reflection, as they take the viewer into a seemingly imaginary world, which demonstrates a distortion and collapse of the contemporary world. In essence truly provocative, but also quite contemplative, this work hardly leaves anyone indifferent. <\/p>\n\n

\"\"
The Queen of Baroque, 2021. Oil on canvas, 250\u00d7200 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Barcarolle, 2021. Oil on canvas, 120\u00d7100 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Detector, 2021. Wood, oil paint and varnish 146x45x45 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n
\"\"
Giant, 2021. Acrylic and spray paint on canvas 170\u00d780 cm <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Art Appel Gallery<\/strong>Neofitou Vamva 5, Atina 106 74mapa: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/mE7gM6EpntJj7D329www.facebook.com\/appel.gallery\/<\/p>\n\n

Mary StefanouWhere the Darkness meets the Light15.06. \u2013 10.07.2021. <\/p>\n\n

The gallery founded in 2019 and managed by the young gallerist Katerina Sotiriou struck me as a pleasant surprise. It primarily focuses on young Greek artists and current contemporary art scene. In a space with a rather interesting layout, intercepted by low white walls and an enclosed spacious courtyard used for lectures, roundtables and projections, the viewer feels like he\/she has wandered into a small artistic oasis. Currently on view is the show by the young local artist Mary Stefanou, a self-taught painter whose energetic work demonstrates dynamicity and power of her expression. Creating with her body, and never using the brush, Mary\u2019s paintings formally echo abstract expressionism, while her gesture alludes to the body-painting<\/em> practice. Her artwork is nothing short of unique: the artist uses spontaneous leaking of colour in an almost automatic painting process, resulting in colourful compositions which, nevertheless, demonstrate linear, even draughtsmanship quality. Another prominent feature of these colouristically intensive paintings is the top varnish that, like a liquid glass, mirrors the surrounding environment, creating the effect of high gloss and smooth texture. Colour, thus, looks like it has been conserved beneath a thick transparent layer. <\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Hot Wheels Athens<\/strong>41 Patision, 104 33 Atinamapa: https:\/\/goo.gl\/maps\/38xNVDCWXJdcjXAE6www.hotwheelsathens.eu<\/p>\n\n

Sophie Calle, Delia Gonzalez, Dan Graham, On Kawara, Georgia Sagri, Scratch Orchestra, SerapisMaritimeI got up05.06. \u2013 07.08.2021. <\/p>\n\n

Hot Wheels Athens is one of the tucked-away, offbeat galleries, in the vicinity of the National Archaeological Museum. The gallery occupies the second floor of an unconventional space (resembling a customized apartment) and stages very interesting projects and exhibitions. Currently on view is a group show-project I got up, which also includes performances; in one of them, the night before the opening, the exhibition curator Pierre Bal-Blanc slept in the bed which is part of the exhibit. The whole concept revolves around the idea of the artist On Kawara, who started working on the series of the same title, on May 10, 1968 and completed it in 1979. During this period, the artist wrote postcards every day, stating the exact time of the beginning of his daily activites, and then sent them to different people (this exhibition displays four postcards from this years-long cycle). The gallery space is arranged with objects that clearly suggest that someone sleeps and lives there). And for a moment, diving into the realm of an art form, the viewers leave the world of conventionality. The exhibition conveys the artists\u2019 presence, although they are not actually there. Clothes scattered all over the floor, a bed, waiting for someone to sleep in it: the notion and sense of reality and the particular moment are more than intensive, and raise the question of the relation between the personal and general, the hidden and revealed. <\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

Some of the galleries that are also worthy of mention, but will be discussed in another review, are the following:Skoufa Gallery, CAN Gallery, Rebecca Camhi Gallery, Eleni Koroneou Gallery, Gagosian, EOS Gallery, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, Radio Ath\u00e8nes, State of Concept, DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art…<\/p>\n\n

Besides galleries and museums, two renowned web portals devoted to the promotion of contemporary art in Greece are:<\/p>\n\n

www.currentathens.grwww.und-athens.com<\/p>\n\n

\u2026\u2026.<\/p>\n\n

I\u2019d like to give special thanks to Yula Karatsiki, Yanna Grammatopoulou, Stathis Velhsos, Katerina Soteriou, Dora Vasilakou, Margarita Batisev and Hugo Wheeler for their time, help and inspiring conversations on art.<\/p>\n\n

Dejan Vu\u010deti\u0107, art historian@devahan<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":1208,"template":"","class_list":["post-1773","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/warped-development.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog\/1773","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/warped-development.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/blog"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/warped-development.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/blog"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/warped-development.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/warped-development.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1773"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}