MOHA Research Center presented a solo painting exhibition by Andreas Georgiadis entitled “Constantinople”, curated by Fani-Maria Tsigakou, at the house of Mohammed Ali, Kavala.
First shown last December in Athens, at Gallery Genesis, the exhibition drew very good reviews and Kavala is the first stop on its tour in Greece and abroad.
In this new chapter of his work, Andreas Georgiadis attempts an artistic immersion in the historical landscape of Constantinople – a walk through space and time, recording in detail places both famous and unknown, which moved him during his visits in the City and which constitute an emotional portrait of Constantinople.
Following Venice and Alexandria, the artist takes us on a journey to yet another emblematic city, Constantinople, choosing in this instance to be inspired by history itself and to record only those elements that have been preserved from the ravages of time and which still exist.
The tour starts out in 220 AD at the emblematic Column of the Goths (the oldest preserved monument in the city) and goes up to the 1920s and the “new” bridge at Galatas, unfolding 1,700 years of history through images of the Column of Constantine, the Aqueduct of Valens, the Basilica Cistern, the Monastery of Saint John of the Studium, Hagia Sophia, the church of Panagia Mouchliotissa (St. Mary of the Mongols), the Tower of Leander, the church of Christ Pantepoptes, the Palace of Bucoleon, the Monastery of the Pantokrator, the tower of Galata, the castle of the Bosphorus, the Suleymaniye Mosque, the spice market, the Caravanserai of the Validé, the Fountain of Mehmet Emin Aga, the Ortaköy Mosque, and the Great School of the Nation, the Camondo stairs and the great boulevard of the Peran and more.
The works in this group, all ink on handmade paper, constitute a subjective emotional record of the painter’s relationship with the City, with painterly density as well as chromatic clarity, imbued with History and dotted with multiple meanings.
The exhitition is accompanied by a 64-page bilingual catalogue (in Greek and English), published by Mikri Arktos and available at bookstores.
Fani-Maria Tsigkakou, the exhibition curator, notes:
“… Andreas Georgiadis approaches his subjects with sober emotion, without excess. Even in the general Views, he avoids the traps of the picturesque. His images of the Galata Bridge and the Steps, the Spice Market – familiar from tourist guides – are nothing like stereotypical tourist depictions, but instead are full of life and expand the viewer’s imagination.
Our exhibition invites us to take a magical peregrination around the City of Cities, which enchants, moves and challenges us to a Greek self-awareness…”.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Andreas Georgiadis was born in Thessaloniki in 1972. He lives and works at Imittos. He has had ten solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad (Athens, London, Cairo, Alexandria and so forth), and granted major distinctions. He has also participated in many group exhibitions. His work may be located in public and private collections. He contributed illustrations for numbers of books and records. He belongs to the artistic group of Mikri Arktos.
