FRISSIRAS MUSEUM

“THE NEW FORCE OF PAINTING.
PROLIFIC CONFRONTATIONS IN CONTEMPORARY EUROPEAN AVANT GARDE”

MARCH 15th – JULY 27th 2008
(BUILDINGS 3&7 MONIS ASTERIOU str.)

The Frissiras Museum inaugurates on March the 14th of July, in both buildings, the exhibition “The New Force of Painting. Prolific Confrontations in Contemporary European Avant-garde”. It is an exhibition of the Museum’s latest acquisitions that amount to fourteen different contemporary European painters;  Mateo Andrea (France), Daryoush Asgar/Elizabeth Gabriel (Austria), Bogumil Ksiazek (Poland), Katinka Lampe (The Netherlands), Frédérique Loutz (France), Marcin Maciejowski (Poland), Andrea Martinelli (Ιtaly), Florian Merkel (Germany), Attila Szücs (Hungary), Aleksandar Stankoski (F.Y.R.O.M), Alexander Tinei (Moldova), Arie Van Geest (The Netherlands), Grzegorz Wnęk (Poland), Xiang Shi (France).

What motivated this ambitious effort, was the realization that although we are approaching the end of the first decade of the 21st century and there is no doubt that humanity enjoys an unprecedented technological and scientific triumph, the question regarding the future of contemporary art and, more precisely, whether contemporary painting can respond successfully to the demands and the prerequisites of this new era becomes more urgent than ever. Thus, its extreme significance seems to derive not only from the fact that it puts under thorough examination the nature of modern painting, its methods and content but, also, because it goes even further, to  questioning its necessity and role in modern societies. Furthermore, another question that remains to be considered is whether these modern societies still have the force or the will to compose, renew or merely keep this kind of art alive and meaningful.

Under this perspective, and given that the philosophy of the Frissiras Museum is to support and encourage in every way the most important new tendencies that appear in the Greek and further European cultural scene, this exhibition attempts through the works of these fourteen artists to give a definite answer, more precisely a dynamic affirmation regarding the promising future of contemporary painting.

In essence, this exhibition is a kaleidoscope of the most aspiring European young artists that belong to what, pejoratively, could be called “avant-garde” in order to oppose the novelty and freshness of their work, to the currently well established, though already overused and badly aged, tendencies that presently dominate the European art scene.

Fourteen contemporary artists with radically new ideas exhibit how they see the future of painting, tracing the new possible itineraries for European art to follow in the next years. These suggestions, sometimes very similar, sometimes completely different, are juxtaposed in this exhibition in order to finally reveal a view of contemporary painting that is still unknown to the wide public.

The exhibition is accompanied by a luxurious greek/english catalogue.

Curator: Christina Sotiropoulou