Four esteemed Melbourne-based Greek Australian artists are having a joint exhibition of their work at Steps Gallery in Carlton featuring a diverse range of artworks including paintings, digital art, and photography.
The exhibition will be open for a week, starting on Wednesday 5 April. The official opening will take place on Saturday 8 April at 2.00 pm. Professor Nikos Papastergiadis (founder of the Spatial Aesthetics, Director of the Research Unit in Public Cultures and Professor in the School of Culture and Communication at the University of Melbourne), will present the keynote address.
A few words on the exhibiting artists:
Mary Raphael’s work, to a large extent, is inspired by the Australian outback. She has been working on a series of paintings around the theme of colour and sunlight. Her recent work is the result of her year-long journey in outback Australia. Burnt brown land and the cobalt blue seas are brought to life by her expert handling of colour to create her wonderful and serene landscapes.
“My style expresses peace, energy and tranquility, which flow through me when observing the magnificence of our landscape,” Mary says.
“My work explores the elements of nature inspired by my travels in the Australian outback and other countries of the world.”
Stavros Messinis studied journalism, photography, history of art, literature and sociology in Greece and Australia. In this exhibition he will present artworks from his ‘Poetics-Mediated Memories’ series, where he investigates ways in which today’s digital media shape our memories and remembrances and how they can be used to penetrate and project feelings and emotions using forms, light and colour, recreating and reconstructing our memories. His artworks are strong in colour, powerful in appearance and composition, and with a very appealing visual quality. These are abstract works that need to be seen to be appreciated. With this collection of images Stavros achieves perfect harmony between art and technology. He has published five poetic compositions in Greek and he was also co-editor of the bilingual anthology Reflections – Selected Works from Greek Australian Literature.
Thalia Andrews, a long-established and experienced artist, has been working on a new series of landscape paintings. Her latest work displays beyond doubt her capacity to express her feelings about the rich Australian landscape. Her confidence with her subject matter and her expert use of media and techniques give her paintings an undisputed professional touch.
“Applying paint to my brush and canvas expresses my inner wonder and appreciation of the beauty of the world around us,” Thalia explains.
” Most of my work is representational of nature, landscape, and underwater sea life. Beauty is hidden in the colours, textures, and shapes found in our surrounding parks, mountains and forever-flowing seas.”
Frixos Ioannides draws inspiration from his immediate environment, from his travels to the Australian countryside and also from his frequent visits to Cyprus, his country of origin. His subject matter includes landscapes, cityscapes but also imaginary compositions.
His early screen-printing work of the 1970s and 1980s has given way to inkjet printing whereby he creates his images with the help of computer technology. He often combines photographic elements with digitised drawings or computer-generated graphics to achieve a sense of abstract realism, a characteristic of many of his works.
A recurrent theme in his work is the environment, a theme that is most relevant in our times and one that provides an inexhaustible range of subject matter.
Entry is free and everybody is welcome. The exhibition starts on Wednesday 5 April and continues until 12 April. Viewing times are 10.00 am – 4.00 pm on weekdays and 11.00 am to 6.00 pm on the weekend at Steps Gallery, 62 Lygon Street, Carlton, VIC.