From 1 March 2003, Rethymno Centre of Contemporary Art hosted the exhibition ‘Oikade:
Cretan Artists’ in the premises of the Municipal Art Gallery and in Artspace ‘8’.
Rethymnon turned out to be the meeting point for 163 Cretan artists from all over Crete who got together to exhibit their artworks.
The exhibition was a great success as proved by the number of people who came to visit it.
Wednesday April 30, 2003 marked the closing date of the exhibition.
OIKADE (AT HOME)
Art knows no home. It is born anywhere and addressed to the entire world. The history of art proves that the artist, a traveller by nature, has a birthplace, a residence place and working place; he lives and works somewhere and leaves his/her traces in the museums of the world or in the collective conscience of some people, who will then become the vehicles of social and ethical conversion process, creating in the field that we call art. Modern artists are no longer unbreakably linked with place but with time; the reality of their time that they experience in their daily socialising, street pictures, television images and internet.
Their points of reference are no longer exactly those they first perceived as plastic harmony -a hand-woven fabric, for example, that harmonises the geometry of coloured light with the embroidered relief which has volume-, but the education they acquired in their travels though books and museums; an education common to all artists of our time.
Our Greek land, has often raised the question of what is modern for its artists, if it may be identified and to what extent with the 20th century movements; to what extent can we talk about mimicry or loans, or even penetration of the “alien” and transformation into “Greek”. How and on what terms has the rupture with tradition occurred in this land? How and when did the adoption of new elements mature? We cannot talk about the mid-19th century or even the first decades of the 20th century. The debate dates back to the first decade of the second half of the 20th century and so does the rupture with the local tradition of post-Byzantine times during the Turkish occupation and its echo.
Old stories, a little apologetic for us Greeks until recently, when advertising and the media seduced art and image became a common cult. Old stories and new facts shared by the Greek artists and those artists from other regional countries vis-à-vis the international Art Centres.
What could an exhibition of Cretan artists mean in the beginning of the third millennium? Well, perhaps a debate on potential, underground relations and registers among artists who share the same place of origin, search for some yellow shade, a possible tradition coming from the edge of an angel’s wing painted by Domenicos, or, perhaps, the renewal of an origin drawing on the ultramarine blue and earthy shades, conflict among contradictory and ambivalent elements of nature? Could the time -to which we refer- have different meanings for anyone who defends it through their own personal reality?
We are not led by arrogance. Much as we love those varied earthy shades and their contract on ultramarine blue. We do not wish to prove, to distinguish or be cut off. The Cretans, travellers since the early times of their history, exchange experiences and knowledge; they give and take loans.
The exhibition was organised on fully open terms and the invitation was extended to all artists of Cretan origin. Artists of naturalism, symbolism, realism, geometric art, minimalism and conceptualism. The quest of the Rethymnon Centre for Contemporary Art is to see -all of us together- how many, who and where we are, where is art taking each one of us to. A first inventory and an art event, oikade, at home.
The exhibition of Cretan artists has been designed to be open to everybody through press releases and articles, letters to the members of the Chamber of Fine Arts in Athens and cities of Crete, as well information material to the island’s major Municipalities and Prefectures, communication to artists and personal contacts.
A list of 160 names of artists was drawn up. Artists who have studied in Fine Arts Schools or have a good track record of solo and group exhibitions. We decided not to set up an evaluation committee for the works, but rather accept anyone who meet the requirements of major or minor professionalism and presence in the art world even as amateurs. The aim was to clearly discover the potential of Cretan origin. Without any localistic arrogance or defeatism without a cause. How many are the artists? Who are they? What do they do? This is why no specific theme has been defined, as it would let several out de facto. At the end of the day the exhibition may seem disparate – aren’t all group exhibition?- but real. Without any embellishment or make-up intentions. The exhibition “Oikade” (at home) includes the works of Cretan artists who live and work in the US, in European countries, all over Greece and naturally on Crete island. We thank them all for their co-operation.
Organising this exhibition was an arduous exercise. Nota Karamanea and Katerina Kouyioumoutzi worked hard to collect this vast material and prepare the exhibition. Vangelis Papiomytoglou, was once again resourceful in designing the catalogue.
We welcome this exhibition with pleasure and anticipation.
Maria Marangou
