I wanted to have this Rendezvous in Athens with Ianna and Jason during the time we were in Paris. We were talking about a bunch of things that were left unsaid, as something else would always come up in the conversation, and ultimately, everything would end up there, to our main point of reference - there- in the city, in Athens. Both of them have been residents of Paris for many years. With their successful studies there and progression in the field of visual arts later on, they came out with mature and complete works. Works with the strong international identity of their creators.
So, by proposing this meeting in Athens, I intended to see (and show as the curator of the exhibition) these works that were born, not in passing during a random stay, but hailed from the “there” that has the “here” within it. The works in this exhibition from both artists reference the light. Or at least they observe the light. The shadows of birds in the city, the shadows of statues in memory. How philosophical the gaze of both artists seems, in the same way the French are accustomed to represent us, that supposedly all our thinking stems from the thought of our glorious antiquity.
A basis for this certainly exists, perhaps not in the way they think it does, but certainly in the way our gaze and representations shape us as Greek artists. Ultimately, however, both of them, coming from different paths and with different attitudes, are fascinated by the light. The light that, either suggests the brilliant statues of the ancient Gods in Jason's works or refers to the light of the earth and the sea in Ianna's works. Both reference the light that shapes the reality our eyes perceive and acquires meaning in the processes of our mind. And although the works may carry within them signs and references from their knowledge and travels (such as the use of black ink in Ianna's or Galileo's key in Jason's work, both artists’ pieces are heavily loaded with culture), they always maintain the freshness of beautiful works of art.
Both have faithfully and consistently served the Muses of Fine Arts in their work for many years. And it's time, in their so diversely loaded personal paths, for this Rendezvous in Athens, this meeting of friends where each shows us what they carry on them.
Manolis Charos
