Art Athina, 2023 - part 1

Art Athina, 2023, at the Zappeion Megaron, Athens.

This annual contemporary art fair was organised for the first time in 1993, making it one of the oldest contemporary art fairs in Europe. It takes place in the Zappeion Megaron, hosting 67 art spaces from Greece and 9 from Germany, France, the Netherlands, Cyprus, the UK, Switzerland, Poland and Romania. 

All the major Athens galleries had booths here, and it took us a very long time to see everything: we were completely arted-out by the end, totally exhausted. But, in a good way.

Panos Papadopoulos, Stay Romantic, 2023, (oil on canvas)

Helmut Middendorf, Congas-gelb/blau, 1979

Karolina Krasouli

Nikos Kessanlis

Giorgos Gyparakis, Untitled, 2002 (indian ink on cotton paper)

Nikos Kessanlis, Swadows, 1999, (print on photosensitive canvas)

Nikos Kenssanlis, Untitled, 1998, (oil on canvas)

Franca Sonnino

Margaret R. Thompson, Return to the Island, 2023, (oil, wax and chili on paper)

Mantalina Psoma, Sitting Room

Leda Papakonstantinou, Midday 1/3

Christos Athanassiadis, Untitled

Sabine Liebhen, City

Alex Psychoulis, H.E. Sleeping under a Wild Pistachio Tree

Philippos Theodorides, When the City is Asleep II, 2023, (acrylic, gold leaf, oil, pencil)

Prodromos Charalambidis, 2023, (oil on canvas)

Johanna Bath

Eirene Kana, Hit by the Moon, (oil on canvas)

Eirene Kana, Anefelo, (oil on canvas)

Efi Xaliori, Untitled, 2018, (print on paper)

 

Thanasis Dapis

Yannis Ziogas

We took a five-minute break here, and walked around one of the courtyards which is beautifully planted and where people were sitting around having drinks

Yannis Tsarouchis, Sailor in the Sun, 1966, (oil on canvas)

Anastasis Ioannou, Untitled, 2023, (oil on canvas)

Haris Gavrilos, Untitled, 1990, (oil on canvas)

Marianna Lourba, Hyades, 2023, (acrylic on wooden construction)

Giorgos Lappas, Traveler, 2022-23, (metal, cloth)

Alexis Akritakis, Untitled, 1982, (paint on wood and electrical installation)

Matthieu Cherkit, Va et Vient, 2022, (oil on canvas)

Chechu Alava, Et Bien y el Mal, 2022, (oil on linen)

Julianne Kaglis

George Lappas

Ilias Christopoulos, (ceramic)

Ilias Christopoulos, (ceramic)

Pat Andrea, Vase, 2023, (ceramic)

Another break, in the central courtyard of the building

before tackling the last two thirds of the fair.

Lots of artistic activities for children were set up here.

Back in the UK

We've been back in the UK for over three weeks now.

A dull, autumn day, walking around Ryton Pools and these are just a few snapshots from a fairly long walk.

It's a good walk, a mixture of woodland 

and lakes.

It used to be a landfill site, they have done a good job restoring it back to a natural environment.

The sand martin wall: the holes in the front provide places for the birds to burrow into and nest in specially created chambers that mimic their natural nest sites.

The swan sanctuary

and then we enter the bird hide where we can see more swans and some mallards.

This path leads to Wappenbury woods and even though we won't be going into the woods today, we walk along here for a while.

Good view of the lake from here

When I first saw these from a distance I thought they were berries, but they are tiny red flowers - don't know what they are called, but they are gorgeous.

This is the actual site of the landfill, some black sheep grazing here today.

One came near to say hello

Getting ready for Halloween.

And some more here. They were setting those up as we were leaving.