Dimitris Hantzopoulos

On Friday, May 10 at 20:30 the Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete opened the painting exhibition “Potatoes with oil on wood” of Dimitris Hantzopoulos, in parallel with a presentation of selected caricatures about the crisis.

The works in the exhibition the artist spent three years preparing methodically were both small and large, up to 1x1.70m. Potatoes were everywhere in these works, almost photographically realistic, occasionally oversized and looking like home-grown meteorites and presenting an interesting variety of forms on their surface. You will see them as a man’s head, in a bath tub, attached to a lemon or alone and half-peeled. Although it all sounds like a recipe or a serving suggestion, this is in fact an unusual artistic subject processed in a masterly way. The potatoes of Hantzopoulos uniquely reflect the two meanings of the word taste. Moreover, some of his works are strongly reminiscent of the forms ofHenry Moore while others resemble the sculpture of Hans Arp.

Dimitris Hantzopoulos was born in Patra in 1956. He studied physics at the Universityof Athensand animation at the Emily Carr University of Art & Design in Vancouver, Canada. He works as caricaturist for Ta Nea newspaper and has published five books.

The exhibition remained open until July 30, 2013; as always, guided tours for children and adults and educational programmes were available.