Vassilis Simos: The retrospective exhibition “A look back. Works 1954-2014” at the Cyclades Gallery

CultureNow

04-22-2024 / 17:26

22/04/2024

On Saturday, April 27, at 20:00, it opens at Municipal Gallery of Cyclades his retrospective Vasilis Simou with Title “A look back. Projects 1954-2014″. The editing is signed by the art historian Christopher Marinos. The exhibition, which was presented in 2023 at the “Melina” Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens, will last until May 26, 2024.

The retrospective exhibition of Vassilis Simos (1934-2014) reintroduces an important painter of the 60s, who left a strong imprint on the cultural life of Lamia, where he lived and worked for most of his life. Simos’ painting is a special amalgam that combines realism, expressionism and abstraction. His work is deeply anthropocentric and the subject matter remarkably unchanged: its main axis is rural life and the Greek landscape. If we wanted to look for the origin of his iconography, we would have to refer to the Greek landscape painters, who will attempt to capture the particularity of Greek light. In addition, we should take into account the pre-subtractive work of his compatriot Aleks Kontopoulos, with whom he shares a similar color range. We could not ignore the “Tobacco Fields” of Karditsiotis Dimitris Yoldasis, as well as many other Greek painters who dealt with nature and the Greek countryside: for example, we mention “Return to the village” by Theofrastos Triantafyllides and “Watering the animals” by Vassos Germene. In a way Simos takes over from these painters, continuing their vision.

The realistic ethnography of Simos differs significantly from that of his predecessors. Without idealizing, he exalts the manual labor of his anonymous heroes, in the same way as Vincent van Gogh does in The Potato Eaters. However, Simos does not paint interiors, nor does he emphasize faces: his attention is focused on natural-transcendent light and not on the artificial illumination of a lamp. He may not use bright colors like the interwar landscape painters, but light is a central theme in his work (something that becomes even more apparent in his later works). And most importantly: although his painting is basically dark, his outlook is always optimistic. Simos searched for the Lost Center with his painting. For him, the image was directly intertwined with (immaterial) experience and belief. His painting is a debt to the land of his birth, but it also owes a lot to a painter who honored and glorified it like no other.

Vassilis Simos – More information about the artist

THE Vasilis Simos was born in Lamia in 1934. He was the son of the iconographer Simon Simou from Ypati. He began studying at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1952-1955) with Yannis Moralis as a teacher. In 1955, with a scholarship from the Spanish government, he continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in Madrid (1955-1960), studying under Joaquín Valverde Lasarte. In 1960 he returned to Greece and completed his studies at ASKT receiving a diploma in Painting and Theoretical and Historical studies (1960-1961). From 1963 to 1987 he worked as a teacher of artistic design in secondary education in Lamia. He presented his work in individual exhibitions in Greece and Spain. He took part in five Panhellenic Exhibitions in Zappeion and in many group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. He participated in the exhibitions of the Association of Visual Arts Artists of Central Greece (SKETKE). In 1997, his retrospective exhibition was held at the Municipal Gallery of Lamia “Alekos Kontopoulos”. In 2023, the “Melina” Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens hosted the retrospective exhibition “A look back. Projects 1954-2014”. In 2008, his book “Colour and Memories” was published by Oionos publications. His works are in the National Gallery, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Education, ASKT, the Municipal Gallery of Larissa-Katsigra Museum, the Municipality of Lamia, the Maritime Club of Piraeus, the collection of the Kotopoulis Museum in the Municipality of Zografou, the Municipality of Stavroupoli and in private collections collections in Greece and abroad. He died in Lamia in 2014.