On Thursday 6th of November 2008, in the Art Space of "Astrolavos-dexameni" opens the painting exhibition of Mariva Zacharof entitled: 'Childhood Dreams' (lower gallery level) and the photography exhibition of Vasilis Rallatos, entitled: 'San Francisco Series' (middle gallery level).

Mariva Zacharof, with her dynamic, expressionistic writing but also with humor thematically approaches the world of children and the world of childhood dreams, in an exhibition of references to the neo-graphic movement of the 20th century but also with distinct references to contemporary art.

The works are divided in two units; large dimension works showing off with emphasis and expressionistic graphic approach, the portraiture at first and in a different level the total attribution of shapes, as well as small-dimension works, in which the diversiformed color tensions - in combination with collage and assemblage- operate as dominating stylistic means for the creation of a more 'good sense' painting games that are combined perfectly with a more cheerful mood rather than critical preposition.

The agility of humor and critical mood with which the artist attributes the world of children clearly reminds comparable or totally opposite approaches by great artists of different eras and times, from Renaissance to Baroque. Vivid lines of charcoal on canvas, the artists persistency on design lines and on black and white colors, placing the bulk structure of her works solely on synthetic motives, the design purity as well as clarity and the membered usage of color red, like an altered signal of prominence; one could argue that the works speak on a basic axis - a vehicle transition about artistic dramatization, about sociopolitical and humane issues. Issues through which surface hidden desires, childhood memories and dreams. Maybe they speak of children's happiness or misery in modern societies and the happiness or misery of children in the third world. Carelessness and pain together, affluence and psychic alienation. In these works the artist does not simply wish to heighten the drama and the tension of shapes but also to highlight the danger carried in apathy and disinterest against children and their problems. As the artist herself claims: 'A child growing up with the technological and material comforts of the western societies does not have the same worries or the same dreams with a child growing up in the third world. All children do not encounter the same problems or perceive happiness the same way, however, all of them deserve to enjoy happiness and live a descent life'. With tension, humor and sentiment Mariva Zacharof approaches the world of children with the outmost artistic way while narrating the every day life of these two worlds sharing differences yet numerous common needs and desires.

During the same period, in the middle gallery level, Vasilis Rallatos presents photographs in his first individual exhibition, entitled: 'San Francisco Series'.

It is a photographic study of the urban landscape through which the following questions rise: what do we see in the world outside and how do we process the plethora of information? Can a seemingly ordinary picture hide ambiguous and perplex messages, yet harsh reality does not allow us to see them?
The series of pictures are presented in single photos, diptychs and triptychs. Different parts are connected, interacting amongst them visually divided by a geometric almost collage - like arrangement of urban scenery within space.

The idea of the photographic surface is highlighted by only one photographic shot. Like replacing photography's depth illusion with a flat collage mixed by different colored pieces placed in plain motives. The specific photographic style highlights and exaggerates the visual tension between the natural look of the photo and its pictorial substance. Even after being filtered through the artists' personal style, the common is converted into something complex and ambiguous.

In a sense, this very complexity and ambiguity characterize the incompatible city of San Francisco, a city where realism and abstraction co-exist. Documentary - like atmosphere of an alternative world, this asks questions in relation to our views about society. Something more than an ordinary large city, San Francisco is a polymorphic mosaic of civilizations; a city in which Nations and Communities, during its brief historic coalescence, created a unique, socially liberal, artistic and technological metropolis. However, the beauty of the western world is opposed to the growing numbers of homeless and the uncontrolled commercialization; light in contrast with shadow, geometric order against chaos, realism against abstraction.
Vasilis Rallatos, inspired by those antitheses, uses the urban scenery of the city he lives in as the canvass upon which he presents his artistic and photographic experimentations.

It is a four year old study - with film and digital media- influenced by 'street photographers' and by his experience as a graphic designer, but mainly and above all by the artistic spectrum, the sensitivity and experiential connection of the artist-photographers' with the poetics of the city and its people.


Vasilis Rallatos exhibition is presented in the line of Athens Photo Festival 2008.

Exhibitions duration: until Saturday 29th of November 2008.

(For further information about the Athens Photo Festival 2008, please contact the Hellenic Centre of Photography, 15 Tsami Karatasou str, 11742, Athens, tel: +30 210 9210545, e: desk@hcp.gr, s:www.photofestival.gr)