The Govedarou Art Gallery presents in its space the group art exhibition of the Union of Visual Artists DIONI entitled: "VISUAL ARTS PANORAMA", curated by the president and founder of the association, Mr. Michalis Michalakis. The purpose of the non-profit organization based in Athens DIONI is the transmission of the visual art of our civilization and culture through exhibitions, seminars, internet, Painting courses and books of visual content. The Union of Visual Artists DIONI lists 912 members Painters, Hagiographers, Sculptors and artists of various visual styles. DIONI's income is given for charitable purposes.

Duration: 4 - 8 October 2022

Opening: Tuesday, October 4th, time 18:30 – 21:30

Curator: Michalis Michalakis

GOVEDAROU ART GALLERY organizes the group exhibition INTERNATIONAL MEETING. The INTERNATIONAL MEETING exhibition is organized at regular intervals by GOVEDAROU ART GALLERY since the establishment of the gallery in order to promote art from Greece but mainly from abroad. Works mainly from the gallery depot with characteristic works of artists with whom he collaborates will be exhibited in the space, giving the impetus to the visitors to get to know their work and to find out if they want more for their creations.

14 artists take part in this group exhibition.

Exhibition duration: 25 of May to 16 of June 2023

Govedarou Art Gallery, G. Papandreou 5 (former Antheon, Georgiou stop) organizes in its space the solo exhibition of the artist and internationally awarded watercolorist George Politis entitled "Santorini". Within the framework of the exhibition, a presentation of the painter's watercolor technique is also organized in the gallery space on Thursday, May 5, at 18.00. The topic on which the presentation will be made will be Santorini.

George Politis is known in the field of watercolor and for the watercolor workshops he performs from time to time in Greece and abroad where he is repeatedly invited to present and teach his technique. He is a recognized member of the American Watercolor Society and enjoys worldwide recognition in the field of watercolor.

A few words from George Politis about this exhibition:
I visited Santorini for the first time in the summer of 2018. It was "love at first sight". Source of inspiration; How else to do it? The combination of the blue of the sky and the sea with the white (usually) of the houses and churches, the resulting contrasts, the transparency and the shadows (often intense, thanks to the dazzling light) give those elements that are reference points for watercolor. . Four years later, I continue my search in Santorini, trying to discover it step by step. And I'm sure the road is still very long…

Presentation of watercolor technique: Thursday 5 May 2022, duration 18.00-20.00
Exhibition duration: April 14 to May 6, 2022

Govedarou Art Gallery, G. Papandreou 5 (former Antheon, Georgiou stop) in Thessaloniki, Greece organizes in its space the solo exhibition of the artist and internationally awarded watercolorist George Politis entitled "Santorini".

A few words from George Politis about this exhibition.

I visited Santorini for the first time in the summer of 2018. It was "love at first sight". Source of inspiration; How else to do it? The combination of the blue of the sky and the sea with the white (usually) of the houses and churches, the resulting contrasts, the transparency and the shadows (often intense, thanks to the dazzling light) give those elements that are reference points for watercolor. . Four years later, I continue my search in Santorini, trying to discover it step by step. And I'm sure the road is still very long…

Art critic Elli Kokkini has written the following about the work of George Politis:

"… Through the transparent ways of his artistic approach, George Politis gives us his own references with more sensitivity, translating the tactile images into visual… His color palette, clear as water, sometimes invests the entire surfaces of his design types and in other cases only parts of them, particularly exposed to light, leaving to be reflected its reflections and the immediacy of its effect on the texture and the diversity of their construction materials ".

Opening: Thursday, April 14, from 6.30 pm to 9.30 pm

Exhibition duration: April 14 to May 6, 2022

Opening hours:

Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Tuesday, Thursday: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.& 6 p.m.- 8 p.m.

Saturday: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Closed on Sundays

Holy Saturday 23 April and 2 May closed

*To enter the gallery, it is mandatory to use a mask and show a certificate of illness or vaccination.Maximum number of people staying in the area at the same time: 27 people.

With the support of:  Estia Pyrgou, Polis Magazino & ThessCulture

1. A characteristic of your art in the depiction of art is the complete lack of its savagery, why this choice?

I paint my last landscapes and figures with a greater peace of mind and stability than in the past. I am now in the phase of my life where every savagery has calmed down inside me and I am looking for the expression of the mildest emotions that give value to human life.

2. The main material of your works is oil, do you think this brings some limitations to the result or on the contrary releases it?

Art is not limited by materials. Whatever material you have at your disposal and whatever technique you use, you can achieve it as far as you wish and as free as your ideas and your spiritual horizons are.

3. What role does symbolism play for you in your work?

Symbolism is an element that is strongly present in every art form. In my personal work I choose to give the symbolism to a second level and not in an obvious way. The meanings of each painting work subconsciously in me and many times I discover things about myself and my works. That is, it is a process that happens on its own, most of the time.

4. Do you work on your works free from an image that acts as a guide, based solely on your imagination or not?

I get inspiration from something visible, concrete and my imagination creates the forms, the color harmonies. I add and subtract according to what I have in my mind to imprint on the canvas, in order to express the thoughts and feelings at any given time. After all, painting takes you where it wants to go. You start with something you have in mind and the result, often different, surprises you.

5. Landscapes of nature and places of the soul. How is this connection between nature and soul made?

I used to paint only figures because I believed that only with human figures could I give a part of my soul. Later I experienced an emotional connection with nature and each element of it separately and I realized how many thoughts and feelings can be born through this communication. After all, man is an element of nature and interacts with everything around him. Many times the elements of nature depicted in my paintings, such as the sea or a tree, have for me energy and soulful properties.

6. At first glance, your works gave me the impression of the momentary and immovable. Is this something you want to flow from your projects and if so why?

I want my paintings to be an imaginary occasion that either depicts a landscape or an emotion, in which the viewer can stay or feel it for a moment, or have it in his soul and body forever. I want time to be lost through my paintings, which is a social construction anyway and the moment to last as long as the viewer wants each time.

7. If you did not have the choice to depict nature in your works, what else would you choose as a point of expression?

As I mentioned above, I often use human forms as a means of expressing my painting. Beyond that, expression can come from anything. Like people, landscapes, still life. The issue is what will inspire you at every moment, what needs you have to express and how, either more subtly or more obviously, you choose the corresponding theme for your painting.

https://thessculture.gr/synenteyxeis/theano-skarlatoy-thelo-mesa-apo-toys-pi/?fbclid=IwAR0BgyZeSAJCAx_X29s64dhqWRSzN2TGuJDbwXyioVBN7UgyFR8bsV2UBfQ

Govedarou Art Gallery, 5, G. Papandreou (former Antheon Street, Georgiou bus stop) organizes in its space the solo exhibition of the artist Theano Skarlatou entitled "Landscapes of Nature and Places of the Soul".

Art critic Pepi Rigopoulou notes:

Nature, sometimes spontaneous and sometimes in dialogue with human intervention, is the constant "model" or motif in the new series of works by Theano Skarlatou: A silent cluster of trees or an enlarged detail of colorful foliage, or even the rough sea with a pier and a boat moored next to it. The meteoric light, a light sometimes soft, without sharp contrasts, and sometimes penetrating, a lightning that penetrates them and gives them something fantastic, is what gives life to the foliage and the branches or the waters that persist even in their splash in their peace. Color-to-color transitions seek harmony more than surprise. Nature, as depicted by the painter, has no elements of savagery. Behind the foliage, the branches and the trunks of its trees do not threaten the eyes of a beast or a human. The image invites we would rather say the viewer's gaze to stand on it with confidence, to enjoy the play of colors, to immerse themselves in the mystery of their reflections to win a break, a breath. Theanos's works want to be an opening, a different window that does not look at the smog that pollutes cities but suggests escaping to a post-realist elsewhere.

Its material is oil, worked in such a way as to give the image something of the softness of watercolor, and to allow a combination of precision and fluidity. Her work may have more to do with a post-impressionism that nurtures to capture some anecdotal aspects of the moment, rather than the various versions of expressionism, which seek to depict the once-stormy encounter of "nature within" with the external stimulus. However, the moment in her works acquires another dimension, because the linear time that characterizes it meets and intersects the circular of nature. Its landscapes are symbolic places. And this is because the painting imprint of nature is also the fingerprint of the painter and every landscape, no matter how objectively it records the outside world, is indirectly even a place of the soul.

Opening: Tuesday, March 22, 18.00 - 21.30

Exhibition duration: March 22 to April 9, 2022

Opening hours:

Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Tuesday, Thursday: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.& 6 p.m.- 8 p.m.

Saturday: 11 a.m.- 2 p.m.

Closed on Sundays

*To enter the gallery, it is mandatory to use a mask and show a certificate of illness or vaccination.Maximum number of people staying in the area at the same time: 27 people.

With the support of:  Polis Magazino & ThessCulture

NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS: “ASCETIC”

Group exhibition at GOVEDAROU ART GALLERY

The inspiration of the curator of the exhibition Nikolena Kalaitzaki behind her choice for the title.

Nikolena KalaitzakiArt Critic, Exhibition Curator, MA Journalist & MSc Educator writes the following for the exhibition at Govedarou Art Gallery:

Nikos Kazantzakis' "Ascetic" is for me one of the most inspiring, spiritual creations that have existed over time. It is a majestic philosophical work, contemplative, with theological and political implications, which seeks to interpret and decode the meaning of human existence, which through constant and painful struggle, through battles, victories, defeats, joys, pain and sorrows, through the realization or frustration of his dreams, he succeeds with stubbornness and invulnerable inner fist to rise to the highest of the "superman" who can calmly, with heart, declare to the end: "I hope for nothing, I am not afraid of anything, [ ...], I am free ».

The works of the exhibition draw their inspiration from the book "Ascetic", with each artist quoting his personal visual narrative, which emerges through his spiritual interaction with this work. Thus, the works presented in the exhibition thematically deal with the eternal enigma of life and death, the joy and sorrow that accompany the moments of earthly, perishable and indestructible tour, and generally embrace the concept of freedom, attempt to give shape to soul, to travel us to the dark embrace of the abyss, to the vastness of heaven or to show us even God.

Nikos Kazantzakis "Ascetic"(work completed between 1922-1923) is a magnificent and timeless intellectual creation that manages to belong to every era. And this is because, his main distillate teaching, as I personally at least perceive it, is that man if he has faith in himself and mental endurance has the power to achieve everything against all obstacles, predictions and adversities of the path • is the very creator of reality who wants, from the heart, to live. There is, indeed, so much optimism behind it! "Ascetic" I feel that it shakes us from the misery of our comfort and tells us: "Get up now and Live! Reach your dreams! " And we often need that voice ...

The purpose of Art is to live through us and those who love it.Even if we ephemerals leave ... Art will breathe because it is immortal; at least the next generations will rejoice in Art (!). I chose Govedarou Art Gallery in Thessaloniki because I always work according to my heart, mind, intuition and instinct, both personally and professionally. And this gallery includes all of the above.

Kazantzakis always characterized his book “Ascetic” as a theological work. This can be seen in the participant artworks. I believe that the reader of an intellectual creation, a book in this case, as well as the viewer of a work of art has the freedom to interpret its content in the way they perceive it. Each of us sees, what one can see and respectively feels what one can feel. In case one can see or feel something further, this is good for his evolution. The adored Kazantzakis indeed characterized his work "Ascetic" purely theological and I certainly would not dare to go against it (!), But for me, for example, "Ascetic" is something beyond that, "a hymn of life", an excellent "self-improvement manual" that provides food for thought and action.

Govedarou Art Gallery presents the group art exhibition entitled: "NIKOS KAZANTZAKIS: ASCETIC", curated by the Art Historian EKPA, MA Journalist and Member of AICA Greece, Nikolena Kalaitzaki.

The Art Historian and Curator, Nikolena Kalaitzaki, hereby notes:

"I audaciously unfold my little narrative, giving space to the thought to let the heart dance to the bloody, deep red, but even more free rhythms of an eternal ASCETIC, written in 1922 with ink. Joy and sorrow or sweet sorrow (?), life and death or something beyond (?). Abyss, perishable soul and non-perishable body or vice versa(?). The unsolved enigma and the dreams that even if they cry do not dry out; they seek to confront carnal demons and imaginary gods, fulfil and be fulfilled with majestic, disobedient offspring of a wonderful and invulnerable superman; the background is dominated by the inexhaustible light and the blue horizon.      

It is said that people never forget those who speak the truth in their hearts and Nikos Kazantzakis, the charismatic thinker, inspirational and tireless writer, internationally recognized for his valuable work is undoubtedly one of those unforgettable persons that we proudly and awely recognize as our own people, as we are blown away by the momentum of his mental warmth and superiority that stays here forever and accompanies our starlit passage. 

// WE COME from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life. As soon as we are born the return begins, at once the setting forth and the coming back; we die in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of life is death! But as soon as we are born we begin the struggle to create, to compose, to turn matter into life; we are born in every moment. Because of this many have cried out: The goal of ephemeral life is immortality.

(Nikos Kazantzakis, extract from “Ascetic”) //".

Participant Artists:

Eleni Arvanitaki • Efthymis Argyratos • Kostis Atsalis • Stella Varna • Efi Verikiou • Maria Vlaserou • Evita Voudouri • Alexandros Voutsas • Eirini Georgopoulou • Silia Giakamozi • Skevi Giapani • Veroniki Damianidou • Faidra Englezou • Maria Zisi • Vasiliki Karampampa • Stella Koza • Kostas Kounalis • Lina Kountouraki • Dimitris Lapousis • Thanos Liakos • Ntorina Malliou • Antonia Mantzouka • Thetis Marianou • Stavroula Mitsakou • Aliki Michailidou • Eirini Monommatou • Chrysa Bezirgiannidou • Giota Bouza • Konstantina Ntziavou • Themistoklis Papapanagiotou • Vangelis Pappas • Tzeni Petropoulou • Eleftheria Rapanaki • Michalis Sismanidis • Irida Spinoula • Nikolas Fotiadis • Maria Chalkia • Katerina Chatzi • Elli Chousou

Opening: Friday, February 25 (6 - 9:30 p.m.)

Exhibition duration: February 25 - March 11, 2022

Opening hours:

Monday, Wednesday & Friday: 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Tuesday, Thursday: 11 a.m. - 2 p.m. & 6 p.m. - 8 p.m.

Saturday: 11 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Closed on Sundays

Sponsored by: Polismagazino & Thessculture

*To enter the gallery, it is mandatory to use a mask and show a certificate of illness or vaccination. Maximum number of people staying in the space at the same time: 27 people.

We are delighted to announce that Art-Thessaloniki International Contemporary Art Fair is back with the
5th edition returning November 25-28, 2021, with our slogan: Distribution - Briefing - Amusement - Safety.
We suggest you to participate because:
* Art-Thessaloniki Fair is an attraction pole for many important collectors from Greece (Portalakis, Andreadis,
Kopelouzos, Konstantinidis, Vernikos etc.) and also collectors from Europe, Balkan, Israel, Russian, Turkey, who
are interested in coming to the Art Fair.
* It is organized in a city open to fresh ideas, hospitable and safe. Thessaloniki is a strategically important
geographic location witch connect Europe with Asia and it is has good chances to become a communication
platform between many countries.
* Art-Thessaloniki Fair is the largest cultural event in S.E. Europe, exhibiting more than 1000 new art works by
emerging and established artists, Greek and international, becomes the perfect destination to discover and
collect art.
* Greece during the pandemic COVID-19 proved that it is one of the safest countries in Europe. Vaccinations
continue according to schedule and by the end of July 80% of the population will have been vaccinated.
* Despite the difficulties that existed in our country we succeeded in creating a good climate which leaded to
important deals in the 4th Art-Thessaloniki Fair with prices from 1000€ - 60000 € with visitors exceeded 18000!
* With collaboration with TIF-HELEXPO S.A, the National Agency for The Organization of Exhibitions, Congresses and
Cultural Events and Pantelis Tsatsis, Art Director.

Govedarou Art Gallery is proudly participating also this year in the 5th Art-Thessaloniki International Art Fair in the TIF Helexpo Exhibition and Conference Center (pavilions 10-9-8) from 25-28/11/2021.

Our artists this year are:

Nana Winter-Georgiadou (painting)

Achim Dittrich (photography)

Nina Michailidou (painting)

Stelios Zacharoudis (painting)

Olga Hatzichristou (painting)

Come and find us at Pavilion 10 - Booth 10