75 artists’ points of – creative- view of the city I live in: Athens

A group exhibition taking place at the European Centre for Architecture, Art, Design and Urban Studies from November 25th to December 5th.

I don’t know what exactly can make me utterly love 2 cities that are so exceptionally different. My birth city – New York City - is bright in its night lights and full of energy in its fast pace, and my home city – Athens – mixes the sunlight, the old and the new – both take my breath away.

The curator – Evaggelia Th. Kairaki - notes about the exhibition: “Leptogeo”

“Thucydides names Athens in his Archaeology as Leptogeo. And it is a wonder how in this barren basin of land with its special geomorphology the seed of so many spiritual and material achievements flourished. Perhaps this primary question is also filled with the magic of a city for which even the Olympian Gods threw, a city that magically reconciles the "beautiful" and the "high" of its ancient kleos with the fragments of its late decline and the realism of its modern reality.”

I’m participating with 3 artworks; each having been inspired in different time periods – all for different reasons – all about Athens.

The first painting, oil on canvas, “The Blue Beetle” is a photo reference from my very beloved friend Maria Angelikousi – who also shares the same love of Athens – and can wander for hours on end... She ran into the “Athens VW Club” where a blue Herbie is always parked.

The second painting “Acropolis” was created as a tribute to the place where my partner and I first-kissed. Not at the Acropolis, but at the entrance of the Odeon of Herodus Atticus… The world felt soft, warm and cosmic.

The last painting was my way of virtually walking in downtown Athens, on “Aiolou” Street which has a view straight onto the Acropolis. This occurred during the first covid lockdown – a time of great insecurity for the world, and a time when I only longed to soon mingle in the bright winter sunlight, with the tourists and eat loukoumades on the corner of Aiolou and Ag. Irinis.

Will post more after the opening! Hope to see you there, this Friday at 18.00, Mitropoleos 74, downtown Athens – Where else?