18.10.2024-28.12.2024

TRAVELS WITH RENOIR

Αrtist: Lefteris Olympios
Curator: Catia Galatariotou

At: Pylon Art & Culture

1A Athinon street, 3041, Limassol, Cyprus

Duration:
18 October – 28 December 2024

Lefteris Olympios presents his new body of work, Travels with Renoir, at Pylon Art & Culture, curated by Catia Galatariotou.


The exhibition consists of 26 ink drawings and 27 oil paintings that stand in conversation with portraits from Renoir’s Children series, which Olympios painted as a child. In his own words:


I consider Renoir to be my first teacher in painting. At the age of 10-11, I started copying with pencil and color his works from a small book with children’s portraits that my father bought for me from the bookstore of our town. Not even knowing who he was, I used to read his French name, Renoir, as Renoyr.


The bright colours, the beautiful children’s faces, the young women with the fire-blonde hair sitting in the meadow or in front of the piano captivated me and transported me to another world; the world of art.


Now, many years later, and with decades of experience, I pick up Renoir again, not to copy him as I did as a child, but to make him my own. I keep the theme of each painting I chose to include in this series from my childhood booklet, adding my own personal style.


I revisit Renoir now, with the knowledge of who he is and offer my own version and interpretation of his work.


The exhibition will open in the framework of Limassol Art Walks.
Opening hours during Limassol Art Walks: Friday 18th 17:00-22:00, Saturday 19th 11:00-20:00, and Sunday 20th 11:00-18:00.
Regular opening hours from the 24th onwards; Thursday and Friday 17:00-20:00 and Saturday 11:00-13:00.


*Pylon Art & Culture will be participating in the 3rd Limassol Art Walks which will take place from 18-20 October 2024. The event seeks to highlight the cultural fermentation that is taking place in Limassol by bringing together, in a three-day happening, 17 participating spaces, institutions and projects that will be featuring exhibitions, performances, screenings, open studios, artist talks and guided tours. More information on www.limassolartwalks.com and Instagram @limassolartwalks








Biography:


1953: Born in Limassol.


1973-1976: Graphic Arts at Doxiades School, Athens.


1978-1984: Painting, Iconography, Fresco and Mosaic at the Athens School of Fine Arts.


1984-1986: Painting and sculpture at the Free Academy of Fine Arts, The Hague.


1985: Visits the IJmuider Kring, an artists’ community in IJmuiden, a village close to Amsterdam. His contact with this group and especially the painter Lei Moulin is crucial for the development of his work.


1996: Starts working on the series Promise after the events at Derynia, Cyprus the same year and the tragic death of Tassos Isaak and Solomos Solomou. Promise was completed in 2000 and in the next three years was exhibited in six cities in four different countries: Portugal, The Netherlands, Greece and Mexico. Promise has never been exhibited in Cyprus.


1997: Participates in the 47th Venice Biennale representing Cyprus with the series Philoxenia.


2012-13: Retrospective exhibition Facing Byzantium at the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens.


2014: Violated Beauty in the Domkerk of Utrecht. A site-specific work, created for the cathedral. This work references the cultural heritage of occupied Cyprus after 1974.


2018: Exhibits the series The Story of Neophytos the Recluse at the Local Ethnological Museum of Traditional Embroidery and Silversmith-work at Lefkara, Cyprus.


2019 Three of his paintings from the series Violated Beauty are permanently installed at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.


The main units of his work are: Deposition, Shells, Filoxenia, Ichthys, Promise, Katharsis, Eleonora’s Gown, Matter of Choice, Panagies tis Omorfias, The Journey, Leontios Macheras’ Exegeses, Violated Beauty, Autobiographical, The Story of Neophytos the Recluse, Ekaterini Kornaro: Τhe Third Hand, Anna te Drieën.


Lefteris Olympios lives and works in Amsterdam. He exhibits regularly in Cyprus, Greece and The Netherlands, and his work is included in major private and public collections.


www.lefterisolympios.com