The Rethymnon Center for Contemporary Art in collaboration with Alpha Bank presented in Rethymnon two exhibitions with works of two important Greek diaspora artists, Gerassimos Steris - Drawings 1920-1935- and Chryssa - Cycladic Books, included in the Bank's Collection. The exhibitions, whose inauguration took place on Saturday, June 10 2000, were housed in the two-storey Artillery building in the city's Venetian castle and remained open to the public until 30 July 2000.

Gerasimos Steris (Gerasimos Stamatelatos (1896-1987)), another important artist of the Greek diaspora, only twice presented his works in Greece: in 1931 in Athens and in 1936 in Thessaloniki, since immediately after that he traveled to America, where his traces vanished. However, these exhibitions managed to reveal to the unsuspecting Greek visitor another version of the concept of modernism, but also of the concept of "Greekness"... As the artist lived for several years in Paris in the ‘20s, his work echoes the rejuvenating spirit of the times, without however his being detached from the Greek reality ("History of Art in Greece, Painting and Sculpture of the 20th Century", Miltiadis M. Papanikolaou).

“Steris’ mode of drawing”, writes the art critic Kostas Stavropoulos, “breathes in the rhythms of the acuity of Picasso and De Chirico. All three of them claim that the art of painting is first and foremost the art of drawing. The five thousand year old Aegean sculpture and the contemporary art and culture of Central Europe, called modernism, are the hidden source of his inspiration…”

Steris himself said: "My attempt is to capture the ancient Greek vision, the Pythagorean vision, not that of pseudo-classicism, but the older one, to mould humanity with a Greek spirit through color and form. I want to create pure colors and forms since purity is a Greek quality. The form should be plastic, pure. I would be happy if I could capture the feeling, the one that is poured into the Greek atmosphere and is not found anywhere else in the world..."

The ALPHA Bank collection includes thirty-seven drawings by Gerassimos Steris, from the period 1920-1935.

The exhibition was curated by Katerina Koskina, Curator of the ALPHA Bank Art Collection.

On the occasion of the exhibition, a bilingual catalog (Greek-English) with photographs of the works presented was released. Katerina Koskina signs the text on Chryssa and Costas Stavropoulos the one on Gerassimos Steris. The publication was accompanied by introductory notes by the Bank's Management and Maria Marangou, Director of the Rethymnon Center for Contemporary Art (today Contemporary Art Museum of Crete - CCA).

During the exhibition, guided tours and educational programs were held.