Welcome to an exhibition where different expressions of art coexist, complement each other and, in the end, interpret reality from a completely innovative perspective.

Impressive portraits distill experiences of photographer Vangelis Kyris during imaginary, subconscious and literal travels around the world, whose borders his gaze encloses within a picture frame on the map of a wall. An array of images from across the globe tart out from Asia and Africa and end up in Greece, where the photographer focuses his gaze on the roots of tradition, expressed through a free creative approach that is far from folk imagery.

Printed on canvas, his images acquire the depth and complex readings of a painting. Anatoli Georgiev, the photographer's friend and collaborator for the past five years, reaches for the canvas and subtly embellishes its details and fragments, endowing Vangeli’s portraits with a vibrant third dimension, unlocking new, multiple readings of the same image, this time through texture.

The artworks are a love story where contemporary photography meets traditional techniques such as tea dyeing and thread corrosion, as means of realizing the creative vision that the two artists share with the third powerhouse of the group, Errika Vassiliou, an insightful art lover who has acted as the catalyst in the emergence of this magical partnership.

THE CURATOR

Erica Vassiliou

A sharp eye for art and an even sharper instinct for anything worthy of her inner filter has endowed Erica Vassiliou with the gift of a strong mindset, pristine aesthetics and an infallible approach to everything that surrounds her. After studying in London she went to the US, where her studies in Fine Arts armed her with a background filled with rich insights and profound knowledge. This led her to acknowledge, within the very first few minutes of encountering the work of Vangelis Kyris and Anatoli Georgiev what she needed to focus on and bring to the light, working as a catalyst for the work of the two artists. Within three months of their first acquaintance, she had already set up their first joint exhibition, with further exhibitions in the pipeline that have already taken shape and form in her mind.

THE ARTISTS

Vangelis Kyris

Dubbed as a fashion world rebel, refusing to compromise his personal vision for the sake of commerciality, Vangelis is the photographer who eventually altered how Greek magazines perceived aesthetics by allowing the quality of his art to elevate the printed world. His personal artistic quest led him, soon after, to embark on a creative journey through portraits-tributes to the painter Yiannis Tsarouchis, imaginative cartes postales and slide shows – personal travels within the subconscious state of space and time. His approach to the Greek traditional wardrobe is a free, unrestrained interpretation that is soon to be translated into a major historical project. He met with Anatoli Georgiev at the peak of the economic crisis and has since been in a constant artistic dialogue with him.

Anatoli Georgiev

He was born and raised in Bulgaria where, as a child, he embroidered the outline of a pigeon that left his teacher speechless. He expressed himself through dance and photography and from 2014 he became a close collaborator and source of inspiration for Vangelis Kyris. His natural inclination to art has evolved through his experiences and practices, as well as his personal involvement in anything that deals with the expression of his creativity, from decoration to dance costumes, but also an inherent knowledge that surpasses even the masters of the field in aesthetics and quality.