Skoufa Gallery in Mykonos proudly presents a new exhibition titled ‘THE EVZONAS PROJECT’.
It is a group show with the work of 14 Greek artists, each one attempting to interpret and transform the appearance of the Evzonas soldier according to his personal aesthetics and conceptions.
An Evzonas (or Tsolias) is a Greek soldier belonging to an elite corps of army guards whose main purpose is to guard the Greek President and at a symbolic level to protect the democracy of the state. His name derives from the words ‘ευ’ which means well and ‘ζώνη’ which means belt and refers to someone ‘well-armed’ with a weapon tucked under his belt.
The Evzones also guard the ‘Monument of the Unknown Soldier’ in Athens where many visitors gather to watch the ceremonial change of the guard as well as the more formal procession that takes place each Sunday morning in front of the Greek Parliament.
For this art exhibition, sculptor Praxitelis Tzanoulinos created a series of 14 statues of Evzones dressed in traditional uniform, standing at attention. Skoufa Gallery then assigned 14 artists to paint on these statues and express in their own way their interpretation of this symbolic figure.
The result is quite compelling: Evzonas is re-examined and rendered with a fresh glance and art manages to transform this symbol in the most evocative way.
The artists participating to this project are:
Kalliopi Asargiotaki, Nikos Angelidis, Vicky Stamatopoulou, Alexandros Maganiotis, Frangiskos Doukakis, Nektarios Aposporis, Antonis Staveris, Tina Karageorgi, Irini Iliopoulou, Irini Kana, Dimitris Koukos, Ada Tsiropoulou, B. Koukou, Stathis Alexopoulos
