News from the Studios - A life-affirming show Life as an ongoing process to a continual transformation.

This past March and April of 2020 marked an unprecedented time for our generation. The world came to a standstill and for once the machine paused, giving us that break we have always sought for.

But what do we do with all this time we are left with when deadlines are rendered meaningless?
”I have more time than what I know how to manage…” Io Angeli, March 2020.

All future plans are suddenly cancelled. However, art persists, affirming its power more than it might have done before. Emerging out of 45 days of imposed self-isolation, we have had to embark on a new way of life. This exhibition disentangles the threads of perhaps one of the least vigorous times of our life. A time when devastating news would reach from one side of the world to the other immediately, while humans were forced to become idle recipients, in seclusion, in their own dwellings.

All of a sudden, we are called to adjust our way of living and our values upon a global precariousness. Yet artists are no strangers to this. They have always been exposed to uncertain conditions and found shelter in their studios. Historically, -at least within the framework of western art history- artists were those who have always made a difference during turbulent times, and it is almost like an inherent ‘responsibility’ for them to deepen their grasp and respond to new realities. In a time of inertia, revival can only come through a shift in perspective. Therefore, we need the invention of a new imagery, and a new language to talk about the current state and the future.
“A lonely profession by nature.” Miltos Golemas, March 2020.

Our life might have changed but the ways most artists create have not. This exhibition is a tribute to the arts and the artistic practice, embracing it as an existential constant. The works displayed were not initiated in the occasion of an exhibition or a commission, instead they were conceived and made as an affirmation of life. Artists’ prolongation of creation is an authentic unresolved longing despite living conditions, so that art will continue to inspire, transform us and lead the way into the new order of things.

Text: Georgia Liapi

Participating artists: Adamakis Yiannis, Aidinis Diamantis, Anastasopoulou Vanessa, Athanassiades Alexandra, Angeli Io, Avgeros Giorgos, Bechrakis Venia, Bitsikas Xenofon, Cacao Rocks, Charos Manolis, Efeoglou Dimitris, Fambris Georgia, Golemas Miltos, Kechagioglou Christos, Kodonidou Jenny, Kondosphyris Harris, Mortarakos Kyriakos, Moschos Nikos, Papacosta Sophia, Papacostas Achilleas, Poulantza Natassa, Ralli Ioanna, Rokos Stefanos, Stampoulou Myrto, Theodorides Philippos, Tranos Nikos, Xagoraris Zafos.

Duration of the exhibition: 09 June – 31 July 2020
Zoumboulakis Galleries, 20 Kolonaki Square