In ancient Greek thought, Time is not a measure but an immeasurable cosmic force, shaping both the natural and the moral order of the world. A deity older than Creation itself, its influence upon the course of history is inevitable—an eternal current flowing, untouched by the will or deeds of humankind. On September 11th, 2025, Alma Gallery, in collaboration with curator and art historian Ειrini Maria Nanouri, inaugurates the new season accompanied by the divine wines of Skouras Winery, presenting an exhibition where time itself becomes the essential artistic and aesthetic instrument. Three visual artists, among the most gifted of their generation, invite the audience into intimate moments of creative expression, placing a pause into the otherwise irrevocable passage of time.
Ellie Gialama, Fountain, glazed ceramic, 190 x 60 cm, 2025
Born in Athens and trained at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Nikos Tranos, Elli Yalama works with clay as her primary medium. Drawing inspiration from the theory of the Chakras—“chakra” in Sanskrit meaning “wheel”—she creates seven primitive ceramic sculptures, each mirroring the seven chakras of the human body, bound irrevocably to the flow of life. They encircle the exhibition’s fountain, a source of ever-running water, the source of life itself. Vivid and pastel hues intertwine with mythological imagery and echoes of the world’s creation, while symbolic forms of human and animal bodies reappear as allegories, reminding the viewer of life’s sacredness, inescapably woven into the idea of a system.
Orestis Papakonstantinou, Untitled, oil on canvas, 110 x 90 cm, 2025
From time that rushes forward, to time that stands still. In a masterful study of the human body, Orestis Papakonstantinou, also Athens-born and trained at the School of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki under Vaggelis Ploiaridis, presents a body of work centered on the theme of touch. Balancing between academic painting and the high aesthetic of a generation seeking its place in the world, genderless figures approach one another in ambiguous proximities of secret, carnal moments, suspended in the void of sight. Images become temporal rifts, severing the present from past or future, free of linear transition. This body of work defines itself through space and through the resonance of a fingerprint: compact yet unique commentary on questions of gender, the alienation of modern communication, the fragility of the body and spirit under constant assault, and the dim memory of other, aeolian moments that rule the imagination and stir the essence.
And from stillness, to the ungovernable. Visual artist Giorgos Poulis, born in Athens and a graduate of ASFA under Aristotelis Tzakos, creates emphatic painterly fragments, using time not only as a measure but as a method of composition, symbolism, and lived experience. Oils with sharp, commanding outlines impose the inexorable notion of system, echoing the structures of civic everyday life, while watercolors—guided by the fluidity of their medium—hover in the non-time of the eternal bond between creation and contemplation. Sapphire flashes and sun-scorched bursts of light form an autonomous inner syntax, shaped by the sensorial perception of time. Transformation, memory, loss, and hope unfold under the steady, life-affirming gesture of his brush.
Giorgos Poulis, Untitled, oil on canvas, 50 x 70 cm, 2025
In Greek mythology, Time journeys with his inseparable companion, Ananke—a primordial and superior force that ordains the natural and moral laws of the world, against which no resistance stands. Together, they give birth to Adrasteia, the conscious acceptance of the inevitable course of events. Inevitably, Elli, Orestis, and Giorgos create. Inevitably, they choose the universality of the Now.
As part of the exhibition, three guided tours will be led by curator Eirini Maria Nanouri on Saturdays, September 13, 20, and 27, 2025, from 12:00 to 13:30.
