My Best Holidays

Kostis Velonis

Holidays in the Greek large verantas

Katharina’s Jahnke show in the Kamm Gallery

Two years before I had the opportunity to exhibit with Katharina Jahnke in two solo shows one in the Kamm gallery and the second one in the Breeder gallery with different works in each case . Our pieces had a brilliant conversation since we both of us remain sceptical to the official recognition of modernity and we enjoy a certain dark Romanism that its source can be found not only in the Nordic countries but in the Mediterranean and Balkan countries. For her show that now takes place in the Kamm gallery in Berlin with the wondering title “„an illusion caused by“, we see silver tinsel filaments shimmering loftily and grated mirrors reflect as also of painted Butterflies which cover a folding screen and drops of glass drip from the ceiling and gather in a puddle of wax. In accordance to the Flaming Lips “Katharina Jahnke seduces the viewer by showing him the beautiful and the familiar, but only to obscure and decompose it, leaving behind the question as to how one could have fallen for such delusion… Katharina Jahnke's work ranges from global beliefs to domestic fitments, decorative materials, and adornments used as means to pretend a beautiful and snug world. A floor-piece consisting of tainted plate-glass, on which a broken drinking glass and honeycomb-balls are posed upon, becomes an ever-changing collage as the glass reflects the sky. Once you look beyond the limits of the universe, you come to recognize that „The sun going down is just an illusion caused by the world spinning round“.

Learning from Feline Attitude

A day in the life of a cat with a sense of local identity,
communication skills and traditional hospitality in Mykonos

a bus station

..suggesting a cycladic roadside culture

Hydra and The Isle of the Dead

Dimitrios Antonitsis also annual curatorial in Hydra Gymnasium attracts our view thanks also to the island for this splendid atmosphere. As it happens almost always in Antonitsis exhibitions the question of meaning generate something more active than a simple answer. “Grups” is the title , taken for a star trek episode.
Rallou Panayiotou’s work for the show is an unusual blend of 19 century
iconography and modernist self- consciousness, in this case Panayiotou interprets Arnold Böcklin famous “isle of the dead”. Another reinterpretation of the same painting was by Konstantin Trubkovich with a landscape painting which embodies the strange classic effect of snow pixels of tv media. Scott Campell room- size installation have addressed the issue of the self-contemplation, with mirror based pictures which reflect your self in relation to the design of a snake in the manner of a religious symbolism. Aaron Young’s performative gestures included in videos represent youth culture’s extremity actions that reflect every day’s rituals at the margins of western societies. Other participants are : Lisa Ruyter, Bjarne Melgaard, Tillman Kaiser, Torben Giehler, Dash Show




Rallou Panayiotou

Arnold Böcklin “isle of the dead", 1880

Hydra at the magic hands of Andro Wekua

Despite the lack of attractive sandy beaches, Hydra is one the most important mediteranean islands far away from the pseudo-cosmopolitanism of other islands and very near to Athens. Believe me the swimming is better from the rocks. For the last years , each summer Pauline Karpidas, displays works from her private collection. This summer was the time for Andro Wekua. His paintings had little bits of colored lines giving the impression of cut –out pictures. I would dare to say that was a fresh addition to his oeuvre especially in these specific conditions that we as viewers had a relax attitude living in hydra island for a couple of days. Above mere formalist interpretations his work make analogies to Georgian tradition. If there is something interesting as an historical reference that we like to discover from the part of someone that is familiar with the modernist dictionary is a notion of estheticism both in art nouveau movement and the revival of a light new expressionism in painting during 80’s. One senses that his sculptural figure poses questions about the nature of representation and its possible ways to find an answer though reconstruction process . Andro Wekua’s sculptural figure is like a hybrid mélange between a professional magician that practices the traditional skills of magic and his model, a ritual engagement for him/her self .