Christos Dimitriou

Christos Dimitriou

Christos Dimitriou

On Thursday the 26 th of April, in the art space of " Astrolavos artlife " (Irodotou 11, Kolonaki, tel: 210 7221200, 4, fax: 210 7221304, www. astrolavos.gr, opening hours: Mon-Wed-Sat. 11.00-15.00, Tu-Th-Fr. 11.00-20.30) open two individual exhibitions. A drawings exhibition by Christos Dimitriou entitled: ' Pictures from Dionyssis Savvopoulos Book , 1983 - 2000' and an artifacts exhibition by Poly Kanistra entitled: ' Scarecrowns in Ourlives' .

Christos Dimitriou , a visual artist, also known to comics fans, was chosen by Dionyssis Savvopoulos to illustrate his new book which the artist published with lyrics, music-scores and interviews of his, from lp's as 'Tables Out', 'HairCut', 'Do not Throw Anything' and 'TimeMaker'.

Dionyssis Savvopoulos asked the artist to design the pictorial part of the book, not only by simply drawing pictures but most importantly by trying to bring to the surface the lyrics' hidden meaning. Christos Dimitriou, as an avid fan of D. Savvopoulos dove deep into the directions of the artist and with his creativity linked the musician to the visual world. With his personal style, approached each song with humor and satiric mood, thus balancing his paintings to the style of the music composer.

Referring to the wide tracing of images which are being exhibited, varying from painting with acrylic colors on canvas to pencil sketches and charcoal drawings, but also to images printed from a computer, one can discover a wide variety of figures which overflow the space or simple synthesis which the artist presents his human themes in the most minimalist way.

Angels holding Greek flags, party of people sited around kafeneion tables, musicians and women playing the tambourine are pictured in such a way that they remind the style of past epochs in the Greek society of 1960-80.

The main colors, white, black, red, yellow, blue; color the simple, geometric lines or the curves as the most evident form, this way giving a slightly light tone in the cartoon-style design. The artist, Christos Dimitriou, said about his cooperation with Dionysis Savvopoulos: «Our cooperation was a magnificent one. The best moments were the ones during which I could listen to Dionysis talking about his songs. I was enchanted as I had already been as a young boy when I discovered "Dirty Bread" and "Balos" and I kept listening to these songs until the record would be ruined. »

Christos Dimitriou

Christos Dimitriou

Christos Dimitriou

Poly Kanistra

Poly Kanistra

Poly Kanistra

During the same period of time, in the art-shop of "Astrolavos artlife", there will be an exhibition of artifacts by papier-mache by Poly Kanistra , entitled: " Scarecrows in our lives ". In these works the artifact and the manufacture are completed by playing. Human figures made out of old wood, gathered from the seaside and from paper built in such a way that it gives the artifacts a harsh, wild look and an earthly feel, very similar to the sense given by natural ingredients, as clay, dirt, hair, etc., they are molded in simplicity by following the basic lines in the creation of a scarecrow.

Scarecrows, the figures which have always tried to create the sense if fear, usually stand in the centre of crops like human signals, in loneliness.

In Poly Kanistras work, these scarecrows, have acquired an even more melancholic existence. The artist dresses them up in colorful, stripy and exuberant clothes, with rich hats and glasses or placing vivid birds on women's hair and colored ties on men. This way the artist gives to the scarecrow a human status, bring it closer to our lives and surrounds it with a colorful bunch of animals and birds, creating a fantastic and oneiric world.

Poly Kanistra

Poly Kanistra

Poly Kanistra