DeAnna Maganias, White dwarf, 2022, oil on canvas, 160×160

Opening: June 15, 2023 at 19.00

Duration: June 16 to 22 September 2023

Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 12.00 – 18.00

Rebecca Camhi Gallery is pleased to invite you to the opening of the new group show, “Suddenly last summer”.  For the first time in the Gallery’s 28 year history, the participating artists are all Greek: Alexis Akrithakis, Nikos Alexiou, Andreas Angelidakis, Zisis Bliatkas, Alexandros Georgiou, Dimitris Gketsis, Konstantin Kakanias, Iasonas Kampanis, DeAnna Maganias, Miltos Manetas and Takis.

Curating the show, Rebecca Camhi drew predominantly from artists she has worked closely with over the last 28 years and has had close longtime friendships with: Kakanias, Maganias, Alexiou, Takis, Angelidakis. Bliatkas and Gketsis are newcomers, bringing a fresh perspective at an interesting time for Greek art.

Initially, Rebecca resisted the idea of grouping artists by nationality: her focus has always been to expose the Greek audience to the international art scene, by showing foreign contemporary artists such as Ross Bleckner, Nan Goldin, Julian Opie and many others. However, a lot has changed since she opened the Gallery in 1995.  Athens is a completely different city, and the Athenian art market is readily exposed to contemporary art from all around the world. Globalisation, in every sphere of our lives, means that we focus less and less on what is local – our high streets are standardised, our food is homogenous, language is being eroded. Being reminded to look at what is on our doorstep is therefore valuable.

The decision to showcase contemporary Greek art and to shine focus on local talent, reminds visitors from abroad that Greece’s wealth and depth in culture is unique.

Alexis Akrithakis (1939-1994)

Born in Athens, lived in Paris and Berlin. Has made book illustrations, scenography and design. In 2003 the Neue Pinakothek in Berlin held a major retrospective of his work.

Nikos Alexiou (1960-2011)

He studied at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Vienna (1982-1983) and later at the ASKT in Athens, in the engraving workshop of K. Grammatopoulos. His first solo exhibition (1985, Desmos) with compositions from natural materials (stone, wood, mud, etc.) was the result of his searches around primary human constructions. He represented Greece at the 23rd Alexandria Biennale (2005), as well as the 52nd Venice Biennale (2007), with the much-discussed work The End, a large installation inspired by the mosaic floor of the Catholicos of the Iberon Monastery.

Andreas Angelidakis

Angelidakis is an architect, an artist, a curator and a writer. He questions the final product of architecture, reversing the normal sequence that goes from the representation of the building to its realisation. He lives and works in Athens. He holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the Southern California Institute of Architecture and a Master of Advanced Architectural Design from Columbia University.

Zisis Bliatkas

He graduated from the Fine and Applied Arts Department of the Florina School of Fine Arts in 2016 and from the Master of Fine Arts of the School of Fine Arts in 2022. The world in which Zisis Bliatkas works is rural. The countryside is the space that meets his subjects and thus his painting is placed in a wide space, an endless plain. His images are the landscapes around him, the countryside and productive land as well as video games.

Alexandros Georgiou

He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he graduated in 1996. He continued his studies at the New York University (MFA, 1998). He is active in Athens, while he has worked in many cities including Tehran, Bangkok, Varanasi and New York. Two of his major shows include the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the Islamic Museum. Two of his major shows include the National Museum of Contemporary Art and the Islamic Museum. Alexandros Georgiou draws inspiration from travelling and everyday life as well, aspects of which he depicts in his work through a colourful perspective.

Dimitris Gketsis

Dimitris Gketsis’ work revolves around issues of gender and identity, with references to Antiquity and the Renaissance, exploring a personal path to place in the world current issues. Metamorfosis and Myth are at the center of his work, allegorically expressing concepts and relationships that worry or inspire him and further studies them.

Konstantin Kakanias

He studied in Paris at the Studio Berçot fashion school (1981-1984). In 1985 he moved to Luxor, Egypt to observe Egyptian art and fayums. His illustrations have appeared in the following publications: New York Times, American Vogue, French Vogue, Italian Vogue, Greek Vogue, Vanity Fair, Vanity, Le Matin, House and Garden, Woman, and Tattler, among others. He has collaborated with Yves Saint Laurent, Christian Lacroix, Tiffany and Barneys among others. His artistic practice is multifaceted including major paintings, sculpture, occasionally videos and drawings.

Iasonas Kampanis

He lives and works in Athens. He studied silversmithing and jewellery design at the Mokume School in Thessaloniki. Since 2007 he has been involved in painting, photography, digital media and scenography projects. He is inspired by themes and motifs related to the history of painting, the Mediterranean tradition and pop culture. In 2020 he was selected for the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Support Program of ARTWORKS.

DeAnna Maganias

Born in Washignton, Maganias has had solo exhibitions in Rome, New York and in group exhibitions at the National Theatre, the Museum of Cycladic Art, the Prague Biennale, the Macro Museum in Rome and the 2004 Outlook exhibition in Athens among others. Her works are in the collection of the EMST, MACRO, Rome and Marta museums in Herford, Germany and in the private collections NEON and DESTE. In 2010 she was awarded the prize for the construction of the Holocaust memorial in Athens.

Miltos Manetas

Born in Athens 1964. He lives and works mainly in Colombia, Rome and Athens. A pioneering experimentalist of contemporary art with groundbreaking artistic proposals – the “Guardian” newspaper calls him “El Greco of electronic games”, “Interview” calls him “the lyrical siren of system software” – he is inspired by the open horizons offered by technology turning this inspiration to often iconic paintings.

Takis (1925-2019)

One of the main representatives of kinetic art in which he was a pioneer, both because of the materials and techniques he used and of the ideas he conveyed. He was self-taught by conviction, and through research, study and experimentation  managed to become one of the innovators of sculpture, basing his artistic expression and creativity on the functional use of natural laws. Light, but also movement in all its forms – mechanical, electromechanical, thermal, magnetic, hydrodynamic – are elements that form the core of his work.

For more information, contact us at gallery@rebeccacamhi.com or +30 210 5233049