Chronis Botsoglou

Chronis Botsoglou

July 25, 2009 - August 26, 2009

Poros

Virvili Square
18020 Poros Island
Greece

(+30) 697 9989 684

Opening Hours
Mon-Sun:
11.00-13.00 & 19.00-23.00

Chronis Botsoglou was born in 1941 in Thessaloniki. His first tutor was Sarafianos, who prepared him for his studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts, on a greek state scholarship (I.K.Y.) in Y. Moralis’ studio (1960-65). He was still a student when his first solo exhibition was held in Athens (Center for Technological Applications - K.T.E. show room, 1964), with works apparently influenced by Bouzianis. He continued his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, on a scholarship (1969-1972). His work is presented in consecutive thematic units, characterized by existential references, the exhaustive processing of form and the physicality of the painting material (which often coexists with his sculptures). In 1989 he was elected professor at ASFA, where he also served as Chancellor (2001-2005) and taught until 2008. He presented more than twenty solo exhibitions and participated in many group ones in Greece and abroad. He participated in the Sao Paulo Biennale (1969) and the Heidelberg Printmaking Biennale (1988). His retrospective exhibitions were presented at the Municipal Art Gallery of Rhodes (1986), the Vafopouleio Centre in Thessaloniki (1991), the Cyclades Art Gallery in Ermoupoli, Syros (2008) and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (2010). He illustrated collections of poetry and collaborated with writers and theorists, publishing his texts regularly. He has published three books and an album of works created on computer (2007). A monograph on his work was published in 2009.

In 2005, Botsoglou started a series of watercolors and constructions, a kind of a ‘visual diary’ that he revisits every summer. The watercolors make a collection, a record of the moments spent next to the sea at Petri of Mytilini. He ‘focuses’ on details; few shells, small pieces of driftwood, small rock formations. The works start at the seashore and are finished in the studio. In a playful way, the artist captures with directness and freshness the small, momentary pleasurable moments of his summer vacation and appropriately gives them the title “Tou Yialou.”

The watercolors constitute a sequence in an almost archival way, reminiscent to the artist’s other thematic sequences. The works are numbered and dated to indicate their chronological succession. In a parallel way to more well-known series of his work – for example Liotrivia and self-portraits – their structure as a sequence as well as their autobiographical character is typical of Botsoglou’s work. The artist focuses and explores in the series “tou yialou”, his everyday life, his environment, his life context, his environment, his ‘experienced space’.

However, what distinguishes these watercolors from the other series is their playful character, which is often emphasised by the words written on the work itself. The light, translucent medium of the watercolor is appropriately used to record the unfiltered pleasure of the relaxing moments on the seashore, a celebration of the notion of the Greek summer that the artist shares with so many of the viewers of his work.