Alecos Fassianos

All that we are left with

30.05.08 - 04.07.08

In his new one-man show, Alecos Fassianos trains his clear-sighted gaze on contemporary Greek reality in landscapes large and small and in a series of his photographs which he has overpainted. Emitting a clear sense of urgency, the works seek to recompose or recall that which is ‘lost’.
Alecos Fassianos belongs to a generation usually honoured for its actions before and during the military dictatorship in the nineteen sixties. Although the frequent references to his status as an historic artist are no doubt meant to honour him, they are not in keeping with a working artist who has lost none of his urgency.
A number of his peers may well have failed to fully utilize the vigour of their prime to break beyond Greece’s national borders and into international markets. Alecos Fassianos is still unique in this respect: having enjoyed enormous financial success during the Sixties, he has managed to stay on top of his game into the present day. Indeed, he has actually continued to gain ground internationally all the while.
So we should not be surprised that Fassianos is a member of that select club of artists who, able to set their own rules, do not have to abide by rules laid down by others, which is the lot of so many Greek artists today, thanks to the all too obvious shortcomings in the current and historic framework of Greek art production, the reality of which can no longer be questioned. It’s not just that Fassianos always has something to say; he also always says it in an original way which references no one but himself.
Following on from the sonorously titled “Eternal Come-back” show which opened on May 29, 2007 at the Potnia Thiron contemporary art gallery, and in the wake of the terrible events of last summer which left Greece charred and the international community struck dumb, Alecos Fassianos returns for yet another come-back...
“All that we are left with” is to open at the Potnia Thiron gallery exactly one year on. From a new and auspicious starting point, the exhibition will launch itself into a dynamic and conscientious examination of what is urgent in contemporary art and what is not.
A selection of sets which Alecos Fassianos created for Marietta Rialdi’s production of works by Ionesco at her City Experimental Theatre in 1997 will be shown in parallel with the main exhibition.