Scroll Top
ADAM | 2008
I Saint George, shall free the allbeautifull-one, Whom I hold captive in my guts I the Dragon. From the poem of Maria Topali:  “Dream in a azure bachground”, From the poetic compilation “Tea service” 1999   Without consciously knowing why, I said that the answer to the Mermaid is Saint George. At the same period I heard the verse of the poetess Maria Topali, set to music by Solis Barki, and I asked to meet the poetess. I was puzzled when she told me for the first time: “Saint George is me”. I started painting repeating to myself the verse. From 2003 up to now, the verse never stopped generating new images always associated with my recent experiences: On the one hand my encounter with frescos in churches and country chapels all over Greece that had once again confirmed my deep faith in painting, and on the other my visit in Olympos of Karpathos. Olympos is for me an example of survival and living testimony of a civilization with very deep roots, and at the same time a mould of archetypal figures. The last painting of this work associate Saint George with the snake and Adam, the allbeautifull with Eve and the Virgin Mary, just like the way the icon stands adorned by the women of Olympos do it.  

March 2008

Mato Ioannidou

  It becames more and more rare to meet artists who begin painting based on the certainty that paradise exists. And Mato Ioannidou is one of them. Here, in these works that she created with such an eagerness and assiduity things are clear. God is mourning, man is hearting and life, by way of a usurer, collects the energy it needs, by lending comforting pleasure. The only hope of deliverance is the faith that the Garden of Eden once existed. Therefore (how could it be otherwise) we can find it again. If not this stand, however, what else is true art, the one that is worth bearing that name? What else but this certainty, which you don’t have to prove to anyone? A word to the wise is sufficient, as well as a word to who is able to make associations.  

March 2008

Kostas Kartelias

 

A remarkable presence in today’s art world is Mato Ioannidou’s painting exhibition at Adam Gallery. The presented thematic unit is dedicated to associative representations of Saint-George. The triggering occasion was Maria Topali’s poem «Dream in a azure background» (Ενύπνιον σε γαλάζιο φόντο), in which it is said: «I Saint George, shall free the allbeautifull-one / whom I hold captive in my guts/I the Dragon». As the artist notes in the exhibition catalogue «I started painting repeating to myself the verse. From 2003 up to now, the verse never stopped generating new images, always associated with my recent experiences : on the one hand, my encounter with frescos in churches and country chapels all over Greece, which had once again confirmed my deep faith in painting; on the other hand, my visit in Olympos of Karpathos. Olympos is for me an example of survival and living testimony of a civilization with very deep roots, and at the same time a mould of archetypal figures. The last paintings of this work associate Saint George with the snake and Adam, the allbeatiful with Eve and the Virgin Mary, just as the icon-stands adorned by the women of Olympos do it».

Νikos Langadinos

Privacy Preferences
When you visit our website, it may store information through your browser from specific services, usually in form of cookies. Here you can change your privacy preferences. Please note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our website and the services we offer.