DOWNLOAD FULL CYPRUS EXHIBITION PDF HERE
5th MARCH – 6th APRIL 2018
Cyprus remains in the grip of Turkey with 38% of the island still under occupation after Turkey invaded in 1974. The north of Cyprus has been turned into a Turkish enclave governed by the Turkish military, directed solely by Turkey.
The TRNC of the North is the result of Turkish financing, military occupation and political Turkish propagandaendorsed by its allies. While Greek Cyprus looks in desperation on what the governors of Ankara have been doing in Cyprus, while the Greek Cypriots have been making one POLITICAL mistake after another for Turkey to benefit, the Europeans, the USA, Russia and the United Nations have not only not stopped Turkish War Crimes in Cyprus, but somehow condoned and endorsed them by turning a blind eye.
Cyprus sits in my heart as a Cypriot and as a refugee who has lost home, properties and lands but more so, a person who has lost Country and Holy Places that nothing can replace, nothing can buy with money or realism, the modern word for capitulation to higher powers. The Greek Leaders speak of realism, which to me is an anathema and a betrayal of a Greek Island, whose history stretches back to the Homeric Times and the foundation of Salamis, now in the occupied area Turkey controls and governs.
The Greek connection is undeniable but also the Christian connection that goes back to the early days of Christianity and the arrivals to the island of Apostles like Saint Paul, Saint Barnabas, Saint Mark and others later!! The island speaks of Christianity everywhere with Churches and Historic Monasteries that go back to Byzantine times! This exhibition pays tribute to motherland and its heroes of yesterday and today. Yes, the Greek Cypriots of today are all heroes living like the old Greeks of Messolonghi, Free and yet Encircled and under Siege by Turkey. The exhibition pays tribute to the highest ideals of Humanity.
FREEDOM and DEMOCRACY FOR ALL!
1: COSTAS COULENTIANOS
(1918-1995)
A TRIBUTE TO FREEDOM
Painted Steel
G4 IX, Inscribed on base 1/3
Height 130 cm
Provenance: Jean Vassis, Lyon. Acquired directly from the artist late 1980s.
Cornette De St Cyr, Paris, October 2004
Sothebys London
Greek Sale, May 2005
Exhibited:
The Last Of The Modern Acrobats, Benaki Museum, Athens, September 2012- January 2013, second and third copy
of the work, illustrated in colour, page 197
Literature:
Rags or Riches by Peter Constant
Published London, 2013
Coulentianos was one of the most influential, innovative and renowned sculptors of mid-twentieth century Greece and European art. Well respected in Europe and the USA, his dynamic and vigorous sculptures decorate many public places in France, Greece and America and also form part of the collection of the nation in the National Gallery in Athens, Greece as well as important private collections of Greek art. The recent exhibition on the artist at the Benaki Museum, Athens in 2012-13, “The Last of the Modern Acrobats”, has shed more light on the significance of the artist in Greek and international art. From realist art, to abstraction ( as shown in the work of our exhibition/collection) Coulentianos has reconnected the contribution of Greek sculpture to thee world from ancient times to today.
2: VASILIS ZENETZIS
(1935-2016)
ARCHBISHOP MAKARIOS
Vasilis Zenetzis had a soft spot for Cyprus and her people, as he always told me and assured me. The work in this exhibition is the artistic explosion of a real Greek for the island of Cyprus and its struggles to FREEDOM from the perennial enemy, the Turks. Being a descendant of Greeks from Asia Minor disaster, he knew what suffering his family went through; the loss of home and lands and the difficult journey on to a new life and a new beginning, Zenetzis lived the drama of Cyprus and depicted it graphically, before and after the invasion.
7. VASILIS ZENETZIS
AGIOS KASSIANOS CHURCH, NICOSIA
Signed, oil on canvas, painted 1993
50 x 70 cm
Provenance:
Commissioned to artist
Exhibited:
Hellenic Centre, London, Millennium Exhibition 2000, Athens – Nicosia, October 2000, No 19
The old church of Agios Kassianos is very near the green line in Nicosia. It stands as a reminder to all of us that Christianity and the Greeks are one and the same, religion and nation as one.
Always draped in Greek flags and always open to visit and pray. Old icons decorate the church and make the church a real diamond of Christianity and history of centuries.
23. ANTONIS ANDREADIS
MAKING NOODLES (FIDES)
Signed, oil on canvas
80 x 90 cm
Provenance:
Commissioned to artist 2003-04
Exhibited:
Greek Brotherhood Centre, London Group Exhibition, October – November 2004, No 8
Greek Cypriot Brotherhood Centre, London, The Hellenes, 16th November to 18th December 2015
no 37 illustrated in colour in catalogue
29. VASILIS ZENETZIS
KYRENIA, Archangel Michael Church
Signed, oil on canvas, painted 1972
40 x 50 cm
Provenance:
The artist 1994
Exhibited:
Ebury Galleries, London 23rd-31st October 1999, Vasilis Zenetzis, One Man Show, no 31
Greek Cypriot Brotherhood Centre, London 23rd – 31st October 1999, Vasilis Zenetzis, One Man Show, no 31
Greek Cypriot Brotherhood Centre, London , November- December 2015
No 44 Illustrated in colour in exhibition catalogue.
