One of the first things I like to do when we get to Athens is walk around the Kolonaki area and visit various private galleries to see what's on. And this is what we did last week:
First visit, Zoumboulaki Gallery, the shop, rather than the gallery in the square, which I had visited the night before and which you can see here
The window display is always very enticing, and it features a painting by Giorgos Avgeros: you can see more of his paintings in the link above
a closer look
I preferred the old shop which was across the road, I don't think this one is anything as interesting.
Then we moved across the road to the Benaki, the shop to the museum's latest annex.
(I don't know what it is about this building, but every time I photograph it, the photograph reminds me of an Edward Hopper painting - is it the colour of the stone, is it the windows? I don't know)
It's a gorgeous shop that sells ceramics, prints, jewellery, books and has a whole children's section
a print by Costas Koulendianos (a pity about the reflection)
A gorgeous bowl by Theodora Horafa - you can see more of her work here. It's impossible to capture the magnificence of the surface of this bowl in a photograph. I don't know how Horafa does it, but there is a silkiness, a glow to the glaze of this bowl that I have not encountered before. Horafa experiments with surface and comes up with some stunning results - the ceramics shown in the link above for instance, look like they're made from papier mache. Such skill and vision and imagination! One of my favourite ceramicists who is always ready to experiment and invariably gets it right.
Fragile ceramics by Margarita Ecclesiarchou - you can see more of her work here
Interesting street art just across the road
Quite a long walk through Kolonaki and we reached Haritos Street, and Gallery Genesis
Dimitris Gianellos, There's a Killer on the Road (ink and charcoal on paper)
Anna Abariotou, An Actor out Alone III (charcoal on paper)
Anna Abariotou, An Actor Out Alone II (charcoal on paper)
Nikolas Christoforakis, Into the House we're Born (mixed media)
Andreas Georgiades, Calm Before the Storm, (oil on wood)
Giorgos Samsonides, Symphony (oil on wood)
On the way back to Syntagma Square to catch our bus we stopped at Martinos, Pindarou Street
nice iron gates
Glass vase by Andrea Anastasio, 1990
Kita, by Marco Zanini, 1986
Articolo 6000, by Ettore Sotsass, 1991
Landscape, by Vassilis Fotopoulos, 1995 (oil on canvas)
Landscape, by Vassilis Fotopoulos, 1995.
An interesting selection. I was particularly drawn to the Nicholas Christoforakis piece, and found this You Tube item: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4B4J4TyM_Y
ReplyDeleteI also very much like the look of those wondrous black ceramic pieces by Theodora Horafa, and wondered how they would look in Northern light.
Thanks for the video, Olga. I had not come across Christoforakis' work before, and I like very much everything that was shown in the video - a very wide range of technique and paintings, and all very powerful. He needs further exploration. There was one piece that reminded me of your work. I was also drawn to his philosophy about the city and art, and liked the comment about art forming our perceptions of the world - it can be so true.
DeleteI find Horafa's work divine.
My favorite is the nice iron gates above. I love the gate made from iron and I collected so many nice iron gates here: cua cong sat
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you like it - it's a great gate, as are the ones on your site. Thanks for your comment
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