Yesterday the Director of the Hellenic Museum in Melbourne and I agreed to go forward with an exhibition in late 2014 or early 2015. It will be focused on the period of the '60's and '70's, when the "Athens School" existed. I was part of that group and Tsarouchis was the "Grand Papas," whose work affected us all.
So it will be about the flavor of that period and include paintings by Tsarouchis, myself, and a sampling of work by the rest of the members of that school or movement, as well as video footage of Tsarouchis and others, photos and other documentation that will make that very lively time in Modern Greek art come alive….we hope. I'll give a series of talks about my memories of that time, of Tsarouchis and all the members of the Athens School I knew.
John Tatoulis, the museum director and myself will curate it, but since I knew all the players, my role will be prominent. It's a very exciting development!
It will probably mean the two of us will travel to Athens to do research and conduct video interviews. And of course when the exhibition takes place, we'll go to Melbourne. I'll give a series of talks on my memories of the period, the artists and the role Tsarouchis played.
The Hellenic Museum has formed a partnership with the Benaki Museum in Athens, and made an agreement for a ten year period, during which time the Benaki will send portions of it's collection to the Hellenic Museum in Melbourne to be exhibited there.
read more about my experiences in greece during that period on these pages:
an article written by helen velissaris in neos cosmos, published february 1, 2014 in melbourne, australia. the article discussed my relationship to my then teacher and mentor yannis tsarouchis as well as with other artists of the cultural blossoming that took place in athens during the '60's and '70's. this page includes the printed article as well as the full transcript of my interview with ms. velissaris.
