PRESS RELEASE
Antonis Skampavirias
«Beyond Concrete»
Opening Day: Thursday 15th February 2024, 19:30-21:30
Duration: 15 February – 9 March 2024
Skoufa Gallery presents Antonis Skampavirias’ second solo exhibition, titled “Beyond Concrete”, which opens on Thursday 15th February 2024, from 19:30-21:30.
The title of the exhibition reflects Skampavirias’ subject matter, as his 25 oil paintings -accompanied by studies in watercolor and pencil, depict rough urban landscapes in Athens, in Peiraeus and their surrounding suburbs.
Skampavirias’ painting embellishes the rather dull character of the big city, and reveals its hidden poetics just like Baudelaire did for Paris in 19thcentury. He rarely draws inspiration from history and he is not interested in the picturesque elements of a vista. His pictures are an attempt to discover the hidden beauty and the mysterious charm of the chaotic urban web, and to organize in a painterly manner, the contemporary slummy appearance of Athens. In order to show the best aspect of the city, Skampavirias breaks down his landscapes into shapes, thus becoming the last painter of an artistic lineage: Nikos Hadtzikyriakos-Ghikas, Panayotis Tetsis and Giorgos Rorris.
Antonis Skampavirias (born in 1984) studied architectural renovation and restoration (2002-2008) and painting under Giorgos Rorris and Kalia Triantafyllou (2010-2016).
