The energy of Antigoni Amanitou and the vibe of the space have transformed into an opportunity for six young artist to meet the general public and show their work for the first time.
With a different perspective and with freedom to express themselves, emerging artists reproduced part of their studio and welcomed
the public and the journalists. They exchanged views on contemporary art, shared new visual stories, dreams, thoughts and aspirations
for 2020 and the new decade.
The exhibition runs until end of January, 2020 and the six young Greek artists are: Alexandra Kapsi, Michalis Koussis, Nikos Komiotis, Kevin Mucollari, Achilleas Tsiridis, Alexandra Charitou.
BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF MARGARITA SKOKOU
Margarita Skokou was born and lives in Athens. She pursued her artistic studies under Morali and Mitara at the Athens School of Fine Arts. Consecutively, she pursued studies in ceramics. For eight years she taught art at a private school in Glyfada. Over the course of the past twenty-five years, the artistic works of Ms Skokou have been exhibited in leading galleries in Athens, Thessaloniki, Strasbourg, Paris, Luxembourg, and Germany.
MARKOS KAMPANIS was born in Athens in 1955. From 1974 until 1980 he studied painting at Saint Martin’s School of Art in London
He works as a painter, printmaker, book illustrator and church muralist, but also as a stage designer and decorator of utility objects.
He has had more than 15 personal shows of his paintings in Ora gallery, Athens Art Gallery, Chrysothemis gallery, the French Institute in Thessaloniki, the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece, the Piraeus Group Cultural Foundation, Gallery K and elsewhere. He has participated in numerous group shows in Greece and abroad while in 1984 he has represented Greece in the 1984 Alexandria Biennale.
His deep interest in Byzantine art opened the way for a close relationship with the monastic institutions on Mount Athos where he has undertaken several artistic commissions. Much of his painting especially landscapes, is inspired and focuses on Athos. During 2010 all this work was presented in the retrospective exhibition at the Byzantine Museum in Athens and in the book Painting on Mount Athos, 1990-2008 by Indiktos publishers in 2009.
As the curator of The Mount Athos Art Archive he organized the exhibition “Mt Athos in modern Greek painting” for the Cultural Foundation of the National Bank of Greece in 2007. He has also edited a book on the Athonite period of the Greek painter Spyros Papaloukas in 2003.
His interest on religious art and especially murals and their techniques is apparent in much of his work. He has painted murals in many monasteries on Athos, in the convent of St. Katherine on Mount Sinai and in some private chapels.He has illustrated books for the Ministry of Culture and the monasteries of Simonos Petra and Iveron and for various Greek publishers.Landscapes, still life and ruins are a constant source of inspiration. Regardless of the subject matter his concern is with the ethos of the painting procedure. Although a realist artist he likes to experiment with various stylistic approaches, techniques and materials turning them sometimes to the actual content of his work.
Caucasian rugs are primarily produced as village productions rather than city pieces. Made from materials particular to individual tribal provinces, the rugs of the Caucasus normally display bold geometric designs in primary colours. Styles typical to the Caucasus region are Daghestan, Shirvan, Gendje rugs, Kazakh and Quba rugs. Several carpet styles from contemporary northwestern Iran also fall largely into this bracket, such as the Ardabil rugs.
Antique Shirvan Caucasian rugs of this caliber ceased to be produced around the turn of the 20th century. “With the completion of the Trans-Caucasian railway in the 1870s, the whole area rapidly opened up to European dealers, who were capable of buying on an unprecedented scale, and huge numbers of rugs were transported westwards from Baku and Gendje. As a result of European demand, Shirvan and Kuba rug design in the late 19th century initially became more intricate, with increasingly fine weaves and knots. By the 1890s, this unrelenting demand led to the establishment of carpet workshops where commercial dyes were used. Designs were simplified and became symmetrical. The small, secondary motifs which gave Caucasian rugs much of their charm were excluded, so that any hint of individualism was lost” (Middleton, Michael, Rugs & Carpets: Techniques, Traditions & Designs. Mitchell Beazley, London, 1996, p. 60).