Paris printmaker and decorator Emmanuelle Mellot is our current art resident in Paxos.
She is conducting a printmaking workshop from 15 to 24 of July at the Loggos schoolhouse, next to the exhibition Printmaking: Techniques & Styles .
Paxiots and foreign residents are learning and enjoying drawing, engraving, inking and printing on our new press.
The opening reception of our current exhibition Printmaking : Techniques and Styles on Thursday 9 July at the Municipal Gallery in Loggos – Paxos was successfully attended.
Local and foreign visitors admired prints by Javier Vilató, Gisèle Daneumoustier, Jindrich Zeithamml and Emmanuelle Mellot in the luminous environment of the old Schoolhouse.
The exhibition will be on untill 3 August, open to the public daily 8-11 pm.
Exhibition`s photos in Loggos – Municipal Gallery:
Exhibition`s photos in Gaios – Chris Boicos Fine Arts gallery :
Tina Merandon’s residency in Paxos is coming to end today, 12 July 2015.
She has taken numerous portraits of the island’s residents and some animals to their bemusement , amusement, reticence or enthusiasm! A selection of the portraits will be exhibited at the municipal gallery in the schoolhouse in Loggos, Paxos next year.
We will keep you posted!
This summer’s first artist’s residency at Chris Boicos Fine Arts in Paxos begins with the French photographer Tina Merandon arriving this week from Paris.
Tina photographs bodies in motion and specializes also in portraiture. She will be doing portraits of island residents and would also like to continue a series started in Paris in 2014, « Anima ». For this series she will be photographing children in the company of animals. In « Anima » she explores the innocence and sensitivity of childhood and the physical and psychological relationship between living beings.
We are planning to exhibit the portraits and the « Anima » photos in Paxos in the summer of 2016.
George Anemoyiannis (Paxos 1798 – Nafpactos/Lepanto 1821)
Hero and martyr of the Greek war of independence of 1821 – 1827, one of the first incendiaries of the Greek navy.
George Anemoyiannis was born in 1798 on the island of Paxos which was under the dominion of the republic of Venice and had never been occupied by the Ottomans. He nevertheless participated in the Greek war of independence against the Ottoman Empire by joining the crew of the boat of Laskarina Bouboulina, « The Allies ». On the night of 21 June 1821 during an attack against the Turkish navy in Nafpaktos (Lepanto) he attempted to set fire to a Turkish warship moored in the harbor. Caught by the Turks he was impaled and hung at the Nafpaktos castle as a cautionary example.
A monument to Anemogiannis was erected on the Venetian jetty at the entrance of the port of Nafpaktos in 1972 and at his home island, Paxos, in 1966.
The bronze statue is the work of the sculptor Nikola Pavlopoulos and is located near the south entrance of the port of Gaios in Giannas. Anemogiannis is represented standing on the prow of his boat holding a torch in his right hand, inviting all to witness his rare heroism and sense of self-sacrifice!
Left: The statue in Paxos. Right: The Nafpaktos version.
On the base of the Paxos monument on a bronze plaque are inscribed Anemoyiannis’ last words in verse:
« Freedom you are asking for my brothers,
And I for my faith wish to die first,
for our sweet homeland
if the jib won’t burn »
The sculptor Nikola Pavlopoulos (St George Neleias, district of Magnesia, Thessaly 1909 – Athens 1990)
.
Nikola Pavlopoulos was a Greek sculptor and engraver. He was first taught by his father who was a wood carver specializing in church furnishings and decorations. Growing up in Volos, Nikola also practiced calligraphy music and theater. After graduating from the Volos technical lyceum, Nikola went on to Athens where he studied sculpture with Thomas Thomopolos at the National School of Fine Arts. He practiced as an essentially academic sculptor in marble and wood and also as a wood engraver and book illustrator. His work was widely exhibited in Greece but also abroad, in London, Washington, Montreal, Tokyo, Sydney … He received a number of prizes for his participation in international competitions in Paris, Rome, and Florence. At his death in 1990 he left some of his best works to a municipal museum created in his honor in his home village in mount Pelion.
Condition and restoration of the Anemoyiannis monument, Paxos 2015
Since its erection in 1966 the Anemogiannis monument has suffered from exposure to sea moisture and salt, being set on fire by tourists in the 1970’s, numberless coats of green paint and fill-ins with cement at its legs. The legs in particular show numerous cracks, which could endanger the stability of the statue.
The Association of the Friends of Paxos , with the encouragement of the mayor Spyros Vlahopoulos, has commissioned the restoration of the statue of George Anemoyiannis from the Gavala foundry, the oldest and most renowned foundry in Athens.
Created in 1962 by the bronze sculptor D. Gavalas, the Gavalas foundry was the first fine art foundry in Greece. In its 43 years of existence it has collaborated with many well known Greek artists including Takis, Sohos, Gikas, Zogopoulos…
Today the Gavala foundry, with newly modernized installations, continues its collaboration with established sculptors in Greece and the Balkans: Moralis, Parmakelis, Karetsou, Paleologos, Sarakatsianos, Benopoulou, Vasalou, Kaligeropoulos, Georgiou, Vasiliou, Korovesi, Bardis, Tzavara, Kotsireas, Kalevras and many more.
A professional team from the Gavala foundry arrived in Paxos on 15 June 2015 for the restoration of the George Anemogiannis monument.
In three days accumulated coats of discolored green paint were carefully removed, cracks closed and the bronze surface resealed with wax. The original oxidized colors showing the mix of metals typically used in Greek foundries of the 1960’s have reappeared. With time they will be re-oxidized and assume a uniform green patina, a result of the statue’s exposure to salty air. Lost details like chisel marks on the face, curls in the hair and sharp edges of the torch flames are now clearly visible again, considerably enlivening the statue’s impact.
We would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the financing of this restoration project, bringing back to life one of the best known and cherished symbols of Paxos.
Jorge Rodriguez de Rivera solo exhibtion of collages at the Museo Ulpiano Checa in Madrid from 15 May to 31 July 2015.
http://loscollagesderodriguezderivera.blogspot.fr/2015/05/colmenar-de-oreja-y-ulpiano-checa-la.html
Jorge will be exhibiting his latest work with Chris Boïcos Fine Art at the FOTOFEVER salon at the Carrousel du Louvre in Paris in November 2015.
Our American artist David Loeb is showing his latest pastels this week in the exhibition
Bestiaire:
with Laurent Touze, Brune Desallais and Astrid de La Forest
at the Maison des Compagnons in Fontainebleau
26, rue de la Cloche
77300 Fontainebleau.
Exhibition open Saturday 28 and Sunday, 29 March
from 11 am to 8 pm.
Drinks served Sunday 29 March, 5 to 8pm
JORGE RODRÍGUEZ DE RIVERA
at the
22nd SALON INTERNATIONAL DU COLLAGE CONTEMPORAIN À PARIS
Exhibition of 50 international artists from 19 March to 2 April 2015
Private view 19 March at 6pm
Open 2:30 – 6:45 pm Monday through Saturday – closed on Sundays
L’Espace des Hauts de Belleville
43, rue du Borrégo 75020 Paris
(Métros: Télégraphe / St. Fargeau / Porte des Lilas)
Jorge Rodríguez de Rivera will be presenting two collages pasted on photos he took in Lisbon in January 2015. On the very day of the Paris terrorist attacks – 11 January 2015 – the Portuguese manifested their solidarity with the French, freedom of the press and Charlie Hebdo by gathering in the central square of Lisbon, Praça dos Restauradores.
Jorge photographed the obelisk in the center of the square built by architect Antonio Tomás da Fonseca in 1886. Featuring numerous Masonic symbols, this monument celebrates the renaissance and independence of Portugal in the 19th century.
Jorge’s pasted figures pay homage to Charlie, who like the artist’s frequent symbol, the cactus, often stings!
Charlie en vacances à Lisbonne
More collages by Jorge Rodriguez de Rivera:
http://boicosfinearts.com/artists/rodriguez-de-rivera/artwork.html
Artist’s blog:
http://loscollagesderodriguezderivera.blogspot.fr/
Private view of the exhibition « Les Dormeurs de Saint Denis », photographs of the royal tombs of the basilica of Saint Denis by Jean-Christophe Ballot.
Eglise des Billettes, Friday 13 March 2015.
Jean-Christophe Ballot is one of the best architectural and museum photographers In France today.
His latest series of photographs, (Les Dormeurs de Saint Denis), of the celebrated French (royal tombs) in the basilica of the abbey of Saint Denis, north of Paris, will be exhibited in an exceptional setting, the 17th century church of the Billettes in the heart to the Marais in Paris.
The series was commissioned by the Centre des Monuments Nationaux and photographed in the spring of 2014.
One of the finest Baroque churches in Paris to survive the French Revolution the church of the convent of the Billettes on rue des Archives was designed in the mid- 18th century by the last of the celebrated Mansart family of architects, Jacques Hardouin-Mansart de Sagonne (1711-1778).
Today the church it is the principal Lutheran temple of city of Paris.
The black and white photographs of the gisants (recumbent effigies) and orants (praying figures) of the Kings and Queens of France will be presented in two triptych compositions in the choir of the church, as single large prints on the pilasters of the nave and in smaller formats in the south gallery of the church.
The statues were photographed so as to look like live figures, contemplative when kneeling or asleep when recumbent. In the twilight of the beautiful Gothic architecture of the basilica of Saint Denis they take on an otherworldly, dreamy dimension, delicately balanced between the inanimate quality of stone and bronze and the animating quality conferred on them by the shadowy light. The classical architectural setting of the church of the Bilettes and the filtered daylight and shadows of the church provide the perfect background for the contemplation of Jean-Christophe Ballot’s photographs emphasizing their mysterious and spiritual quality.
The exhibition sponsored by the Lutheran Temple of the Billettes and Chris Boïcos Fine Arts will be open to the public Tuesday though Saturday from Wednesday 11 to Saturday 28 March from 2 to 7 pm at 24 rue des Archives, 75004 Paris (Métro Hôtel- de-Ville).
For more information and to see all the photographs please visit the exhibtion page of our website.