Apokries - Carnavali Procession

As I mentioned in my previous post Apokries a three-week carnival immediately preceding Lent in the Greek Orthodox church. It's believed that it started in ancient times as a worship to Dionysos, the god of wine and feast. In the Orthodox tradition it's the preparation period before Lent. Apokries means literally saying no to meat (apo-kreas), as does the word carnival (carne-vale). It's usually celebrated in February but it does of course depend on when Easter falls. It's a time of dressing up, parades, street theatre and lots of food.

On Sunday, the last day of the three-week Apokries celebrations, we took the bus to Athens as we wanted to take part in the procession through Plaka. There were quite a few people who were dressed up on the bus, but because it was very crowded, I was only able to take this one snap.

A big crowd by the Acropolis Museum waiting for the procession to start.





A lot of the kids were dressed up

 and some people had gone to a lot of effort

I wondered if these two had been to the Zombie Walk the night before.

There was dancing around the maypole

and then the procession started. We had been expecting floats but there were only about a dozen people who acted as facilitators to lead the crowd which was considerable by then.

We marched through the narrow streets of Plaka for a while

but soon we were in need of refreshment so we stopped at O Glykys, a traditional kafeneion.

Zoro came up to us while we were having our lunch to show us his sword

and to ask us who we thought he was.  Sweet!

Ignoramus

'Do not impose a meaning, expose it instead'.

 Ignoramus, by Helmut Stallaerts, at Berniers/Eliades Gallery, Athens,

which is across the road from this delightful little church. (I just had to include this).

The human figures of the Belgian artist are blurred, enigmatic, alienated. We can't quite make sense of them.

'In my view what counts most in a work is the power of the image and the fact that it reveals its meaning', he says of his work.

'We are constantly told that we are unique. I think individuality is a neoliberal concept that is sold to us to keep us disconnected from each other. I am more inclined to believe that we are part of a whole, that we are very similar'.

Dissolution, 2016, (oil, beeswax on canvas)

 Lucy, 2016, (oil, beeswax, on skull, funnel and metal)

Roots, 2015-16, (oil and beeswax on paper)

Wall 5 Meo DMT, 2016, (inkjet print)

Antoine T.E., 2016-17, (metal, animal bones, mirror, oil and beeswax)

Cave, 2016, (oil, beeswax, cow bladder)

Wall Codeine - You Got Me into this Mess so You Get Me Out, 2016-17, (inkjet printing)

A Difficult Incarnation, 2016, (oil and beeswax)

Ignoramus, 2016, (oil and beeswax on canvas)

Young Death, 2016

Almond blossom

The almond trees have blossomed - the first sign that spring might be just round the corner

and the bees love them

Maria Vlandi, ceramicist

Ceramics in Medusa Art Gallery, Kolonaki, Athens

Stunning work by Maria Vlandi.

Organic-looking forms that integrate rounded shapes with an economy of lines and minimal detail.

I asked for information on the artist and I was given the catalogue of her previous exhibition. It featured the two monumental sculptures reproduced below:

Escape, stoneware, (200x95x23 cm)

Praxis, stoneware, (180x220x35 cm)

Mimosa

A bright, yellow welcome - the mimosa over our front gate.

Art and Resistance

Art and Resistance, 1950-1974,

at the Municipal Gallery, Athens.

This is a long post and yet, I have posted only a fraction of the works exhibited - by the time we got to the second building we were' arted-out' but this did not diminish our pleasure in this exhibition. A second visit would be advisable, but we have only two weeks left in Athens and there are still a lot of galleries and museums we want to visit.

Ismini Vogiatzoglou-Sklirou, Untitled, 1972 (mixed media)

Memas Kalogiratos, Untitled, 1972, (bronze)

Christos Karas, Exile, 1967, (oil on canvas)

This refers to the incarceration of political dissidents on barren rocks in the Aegean when conventional prisons could no longer cope with the number of political prisoners during the Greek Civil War in 1946-1949 and during the military junta in 1967-1974.

Valias Semertzidis, Imprisoned Men, 1967 (lithograph)

Dimitris Gioldasis, Jail, (oil on cardboard)

Kostas Malamos, The Day After, 1976, (oil on canvas)

This refers to the Athens Polytechnic Uprising in November 1973, an open anti-junta student revolt  which resulted in bloodshed, 24 deaths and eventually led to the end of military rule in Greece.

Kostas Malamos, Vietnam, 1967, (oil on canvas)

Yannis Tsarouchis, Grief, 1951, (tempera on cardboard)

A. Tassos, Children of the Asphalt, 1974, (wooden print block)

A. Tassos, Slave, 1976, (wooden print block)

Vasso Kyriaki, Vietnam, 1968,  (collage and acrylic)

Vlassis Caniaris, Untitled, 1969, (plaster, cloth, wood)

Yannis Psichopaidis, Demonstration, 1965-66, (lithograph)

Petros Zoumboulakis, Execution, 1967, (mixed media)

Yannis Stephanides, Girl Reading, 1977, (plaster)

Giorgos Dikeliotis, From Kalavryta to May Lai, (from the Vietnam series), 1965-70, (ink on paper)

Kostas Polychronopoulos, Execution, 1970, (iron and bronze)

Memos Makris, Old Greek Woman (Archondo Katsikaki), (from the Hungarian village of political refugees, 'Beloyannis') , 1951, (bronze)

Zizi Makri, Archondo Katsikaki, 1951, (from the Hungarian village of political refugees, 'Beloyannis'),  (lithograph)

Orestis Kannelis, Presence, 1961-63, (oil on canvas)

Aris Papazoglou, The Kiss, 1973, (acrylic)

Vlassis Caniaris, Belt, 1970, (plaster, wire, metal)

Giorgos Kounalis, Girl with Dove, 1963, (oil on canvas)

Maria Ktistopoulou, Hiding Place, 1976, (mixed media)

Maria Ktistopoulou, Hiding Place 1, 1976, (acrylic on paper, wood, wire)

Maria Ktistopoulou, Hiding Place 2, 1976, (acrylic on paper, wood, wire)

Dimitris Talayannis, These Faces, 1976, (mixed media)

Anna Kindini, Makronissos, 1958, (print on plastic)

Makronissos is the infamous rock/island in the Aegean where political dissidents were incarcerated during the Greek civil war.

Anna Kindyni, Makronissos, 1958, (eau forte)

You can see more of her work here

Anna Kindyni, Makronissos, 1958, (print on plastic)

Anna Kindyni Makronissos, 1958, (print on plastic)

Anna Kindyni Makronissos, 1958, (print on plastic)

Below, posters by Savvas Tzanetakis, part of the series 'Antifascist Posters, Welcome to Greece, printed in Stockholm in 1970:

Yannis Hainis, Untitled, 1970, (mixed media on wood)

Aristides Patsoglou, Homme Opprime, 1970 (ceramic)

Yannis Parmakelis, Martyrs and Victims, 1973, (bronze)

Konstantinos Grammatopoulos, Heroes, 1957, (woodcut)

Dimitris Alithinos, Untitled, 1975

Christos Kapralos, Vietnam, 1966, (bronze)

Christos Kapralos, April 1967, (bronze)

This refers to the overthrow of Greek democracy by the colonels of the junta in 1967

Christos Kapralos, Vietnam VII, 1966, (bronze)

Dimitris Perdikides, Madrid 1976, (mixed media on wood)

Giorgos Argyrakis, Imprisoned Parthenon, 1970, (photo, collage)

Nikos Oikonomides, And you, Tortured People, do not Forget Oropos, 1972, (watercolour on paper)

A quote from one of Mikis Theodorakis' political songs

Dionysis Gerolymatos, Battle Between Centaurs and Students, 1973, (iron and bronze)

Dimosthenes Skoulakis, Days of 1967, 1970, (oil on canvas)

Dimosthenes Skoulakis, Greek Flag, 1967, (oil on canvas)

Thomas Molos, No More War, 1972, (oil on canvas)

Thomas Molos, Peace March, 1970

Thomas Molos, Mother 1 and 2, 1971, (oil on canvas)