A tracing in the paths of contemporary Greek representational painting from the 1980s until today, through 104 paintings of 64 contemporary Greek artists of the collection of Antonis and Azia Chatziioannou is the exhibition “The passion of the visible”, organized by the Municipal Art Gallery of Chania and inaugurated on Saturday, May 28, 2022.
The rich collection of the Chatziioannou couple, which numbers more than 1,200 works, returns to the Municipal Art Gallery of Chania, where it was first presented 15 years ago to celebrate a milestone: the completion of 40 years since its birth and to close in the best way a circle, ready to open a next one.
“The criteria for the selection of the works and the corresponding configuration of our collection are simple: we choose works that our eyes like and that’s all”, note the lawyer and collector, Antonis Chatziioannou and his teacher, wife, Azia.
KOSTAS PAPANIKOLAOU The river of life, 2019
Anthony and Asia Hadjioannou Collection
For the sixth consecutive presentation of part of the Chatziioannou collection, it was chosen to emphasize new acquisitions and works that had not been exhibited in Chania in 2007, without, however, being absent from the new organization and some pylous works.
In correspondence with the three levels of the Municipal Art Gallery of Chania, the exhibition was structured around an equal number of large units, which attempt to highlight the basic aesthetic axes of the collection.
From the first section (The challenge of the gaze: Riddle and innocence), to the second (The obsessions of the gaze: Motif and painting), to the third (The exaggeration of the gaze: The passion of the visible) a three-pronged presentation gradually escalates, which moves between the painting of the gaze and the painting of the mind.
IO ANGELI Swing, 2008
Anthony and Asia Hadjioannou Collection
“Through the detection of the eyes of the people who gathered these works during the last forty years, a special panorama of Greek representational painting from the 1980s until today emerges inevitably.
In order to achieve this dual, exhibition and publishing project, I resorted, once again, to the help of the image, that is, to the works themselves – not to their external elements, to their subject or to their age, but to the common air that unites them, to the eclectic affinities between them. Tracing the conscious and unconscious steps of those who once chose each work, I finally tried with my own eyes as a vehicle, to orchestrate on each painting surface a multiple meeting of glances: the creator, the collector and the viewer”, notes the art historian and curator of the exhibition, Elizabeth Plessa.
IRINI ILIOPOULOU The red ribbon, 2007-2008
Anthony and Asia Hadjioannou Collection
The event is accompanied by a bilingual (Greek-English), fully illustrated catalogue, curated by Elisavet Plessa and designed by Erifili Arapoglou, with texts by collectors Antonis and Azia Chatziioannou, the academic and painter, Alekos Levidis, the President of the Supervisory Board of the National Library, Stavros Zoumboulakis and the curator.
The architectural design of the exhibition was undertaken by Stavros Papagiannis/ Stage Design Office.
ACHILLEAS PAPACOSTAS Untitled, 2004
Anthony and Asia Hadjioannou Collection
Participating artists
Io Angeli/ Nikos Angelidis/ Dafni Angelidou/ Yannis Adamakis/ Kostas/ Ananidas/ Dimitris Anastasiou/ Dimitris Andreadakis/ Kalliopi Asargiotaki/ Stathis Vatanidis/ Alexis Veroukas/ Olga Verykaki/ Marilitsa Vlachaki/ Savvas Georgiadis/ Vicky Georgiopoulou/ Maria Giannakaki / Thodoros Daskalakis / Stefanos Daskalakis / Niki Eleftheriadis / Irene Iliopoulou / Dimitris Katsigiannis / Theophilos Katsipanos / Konstantinos Kerestetzis / Kiki Kolymbari / Leda Kontogiannopoulou / Spyros Koursaris / Michalis Madenis / Thanasis Makris/ Nektarios Mamais / Michalis Manousakis / Tasos Mantzavinos / Kalliroi Marouda / Giannis Migadis / Louisa Missiou / Tasos Missouras / Nikos Moschos / Panagiotis Beldekos / Emmanuel Bitsakis / Lambrini Boviatsou / Thanasis Panagiotou / Elena Papadimitriou / Achilleas Papakostas / Vassilis Papanikolaou / Kostas Papanikolaou / Kostas Papatriantafyllopoulos / Andreas Patrakis / Vassilis Perros / Achilleas Pistonis / Vangelis Rinas / Stefanos Rokos / Giorgos Rorris / Pavlos Samios / Edward Sakayan / Vassilis Selimas / Nikos Siskos / Antonis Staveris / Marina Stellatou / Philippos Tarlow / Dimitris Tzamouranis / Anna Maria Tsakali / Antonis Tsakiris / Panos Fidakis / Maria Filopoulou / Maria Chatziandreou / Mandalina Psoma
GEORGE RORRIS A rugged land, 2019
Anthony and Asia Hadjioannou Collection
INFO
“The passion of the visible: Works from the Antonis and Azia Hadjiioannou Collection”
Duration: 28 May to 22 September 2022
Municipal Art Gallery of Chania
Halidon 98-102 Tel: +30 28210 92294 and +30 28210 92419
Web page: https://pinakothiki-chania.gr/
Facebook & Instagram: @MunicipalArtGalleryChania
Opening hours:
Monday to Saturday 10:00 to 14:00 and 19:00 to 22:00
Closed on Sundays
DIMITRIS ANDREADAKIS Nude, 2010 oil on canvas 120× 130 cm
Anthony and Asia Hadjioannou Collection
STEFANOS DASKALAKIS Leonidas with spotlight, 2011
Anthony and Asia Hadjioannou Collection
