MoTeR 2
21 contemporary artists
Centre of
Contemporary Art, Museun of Modern Greek Art
Rhodes 5 October 2002 - 5 September 2003
A STRONG MOTOR* DRIVING UP THE HILL OF ART
By
Haris Kambouridis
Success on the way of art needs guts, talent, perseverance, patience, stamina and a
suitable cultural environment. Most of the time, if just one of these factors is absent,
the road of establishment becomes even more difficult to tread, almost impassable. And in
those few blessed cases when circumstances are right, an experienced art critic senses the
painters accelerating, overcoming the obstacles on the way and change their motor gears
rapidly, one after the other, “nailing them in” as a motorcyclist would say.
Coming from Athens and a former inhabitant of Salonica, I know how difficult it is
for a dynamic art movement, with values and roots in its surroundings, to develop in a
smaller town. At the rare occasions in which I have experienced that as an art critic, I
thanked God, as I was present at a beginning with potential.
I get that sweet feeling every time I see the exhibitions in the Centre of
Contemporary Art of the Museum of Modern Greek Art in Rhodes, this last year.
For years I dreamt to see an art group with claims and destiny, painters with
individual visions and common root, spring out from this blessed island. Maybe they
existed long before Polly Hatzimarkou showed up to undertake with such zeal the
coordinating task and long before the Gallery of Rhodes walked its way through the
Panhellenic world. But I believe that my young colleague, with the vigor, the will and the
abilities she has in abundance, is the one that created the necessary common platform so
that all artists’ step will grow, accelerate, conquer the road that lies ahead.
MoTeR is already on its second gear and
it is certain that it has, like all well-made machines have, a lot more -the first for
ignition, the next ones for speed, the last for overdrive.
From the works and the artists I have met, three conclusions are drawn. First, the island
of Rhodes has very important, talented, and enthusiastic painters, who express a special
outlook on the world, like their crossroad island.
Second, Rhodes attracts painters from
other parts of the country as well; it is a small metropolis of art, preparing for a
greater leading role.
And third, the first cluster of those creative factors has already been harvested as a beautiful overall work that offers to art as a whole. Artists like A.Fasianos, K.Tsoclis, H.Karas and others, who have come and seen the works, have confirmed that.
I, too, feel proud and congratulate every artist individually, but Polly especially, who manages to communicate with them, listen to them carefully, coordinate them, endure to listen and attend to each one’s individual needs, foreseeing the developing group as a whole. Those are born artists, and Polly, a born art critic and curator herself delivers new forms just like a mid-wife.
MoTeR, I wish you every success in your
new path. Do not be afraid of the race with other motorbikes. You are made of exceptional
parts and you have an excellent trainer.
Haris Kambouridis
Art critic- semiotician
Member of Academia Europaea
> www.moter.gr
Çome page of MoTeR 2
