Vlassis Caniaris
What's North, What's South
Past
2 April – 9 May 2015
11 Haritos Street, Kolonaki
In 2009, two years before his death, the artist presented for the first time in Athens at Kalfayan Galleries, his monumental installation titled ‘Arrivederci-Willkommen-1976’ which was featured in 2014 at the Gwangju Biennale (curated by Jessica Morgan) and will be shown at the Manège de Sury in Mons, Belgium in the exhibition ‘Atopolis’ being organized by the Wiels Centre d’Art Contemporain in Brussels. In 2012, Kalfayan Galleries presented a second solo show with Caniaris’ landmark installation titled “Cocktail”.
The current show, which marks the third solo presentation of the artist’s work at Kalfayan Galleries, features, among individual free-standing works and wall pieces, monumental installations such as the ‘Tourist’ and the ‘What’s North, What’s South (Children and Testimony)’. The latter was presented at 1988 at the Venice Biennale.
Always a keen observer of his surroundings but also of the world at large, Caniaris' iconography has always concerned itself with socio-political themes. He was one of the most significant artists of the post-war period and helped contribute to the creation of a new artistic climate in post-war Greece. He belongs to the generation of Greek artists who worked in Italy, France and Germany during the ‘60s and ‘70s when he developed a personal distinctive style, experimenting with modes of expression that strayed from the mainstream.
Artists
Vlassis Caniaris
Vlassis Caniaris (Athens, 1928 – 2011) was always a keen observer of his surroundings but also of the world at large. Thus his iconography has always focused on socio-political themes. He is one of the most significant artists of the post-war period in Greece and contributed to the emergence of a new artistic climate. From 1956 to 1960 he lived and studied in Rome and then settled in Paris until 1971. From 1973 to 1975 he lived in Berlin and then returned to Athens where he lived and worked until his death. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1950-1955),The School of Fine Arts, Rome (1959) and the University of Athens, School of Medicine (1946-1950). In 1976 he was elected to the chair in Architecture at the National Technical University in Athens and remained until 1996.
Installation Views
