The first London exhibition by one of the foremost post-war Greek artists, Rena Papaspyrou, is a highlight of the autumn arts season at The Hellenic Centre, in Marylebone, central London.
The ‘house built over sixty years’ by Rena Papaspyrou launches the second major arts season at the Hellenic Centre
The body of work created by Rena Papaspyrou since the 1960s has been referred to as ‘a house built over sixty years’ (Phrase coined by art historian and curator in Christoforos Marinos in 2021). Inspired by the architecture of the Athens neighbourhood where she was born and raised, Papaspyrou uses found bricks, tiles, mosaics and sections of old walls as her foundation, enhancing the accumulated cracks, dents and marks of their lifetime with pencil and paint to create images, sculpture and installations.
Images Through Matter runs from 2 October – 16 November 2024 at the Hellenic Centre. Admission is free.
The exhibition illuminates the approach developed and refined by Papaspyrou over the past six decades. It comprises 22 representative works, spanning from the 1970s until today, including wall and floor pieces and a large work Photocopies Directly from Matter (1980–82). In Papaspyrou’s work, artmaking meets documentation and technical methods fuse with sculpture, performance, painting, drawing and photography as the artist explores what constructs an image.
Images Through Matter launches the Hellenic Centre’s autumn season.
Long a cultural venue for London’s Greek communities, the Centre now produces a new wide-ranging programme spanning art, music, film, spoken word, food and more; all events are open to everyone, almost all are free.
Nayia Yiakoumaki, Director of the Hellenic Centre, said, “This exhibition presents a thorough body of works by a female contemporary European visual artist. In presenting her long-overdue UK exhibition debut, we are immensely proud to introduce Rena Papaspyrou to this country; this is entirely in keeping with our intention of bringing the best of Greek culture to London.”
The exhibition is curated by Inês Costa, Curator, Focal Point Gallery and Nayia Yiakoumaki, Director, Hellenic Centre, with Grace Strasen, Events Co-ordinator, Hellenic Centre. It is supported by Orphee Beinoglou, Fine Art Services.
Housed within a five-storey Portland stone and red-brick building, just off Marylebone High Street, the Hellenic Centre is a genuinely unique, longstanding organisation, originally formed for the Hellenic community of the diaspora and now a multi-disciplinary arts venue.
In Conversation: On Thursday 10 October, a breakfast reception, followed by a conversation hosted by Linsey Young, Curator of British Contemporary Art, Tate Britain with Elpida Karaba, theorist and independent curator, and Stamatis Schizakis, Interim Deputy Director and Curator, Lens-based and New Media, National Museum of Contemporary Art Athens (EMST), on Rena Papaspyrou’s work, and her contribution to contemporary art in Greece and abroad.
Bio
Born in 1938, Rena Papaspyrou studied at Athens School of Fine Arts (1956–61) and at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris (1963–67). From 1993–2005 she was Professor at Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), where she has been Emeritus Professor since 2006. She was director of Painting Workshop C (1993–2005), the first female professor at ASFA to ever direct their own workshop. She lives and works in Athens. Since her first solo exhibition in Paris in 1966, she has exhibited extensively throughout Europe as well as the USA, Brazil and China.
Facts & Credits
Exhibition title Rena Papaspyrou: Images Through Matter
Typology Exhibition
Artist Rena Papaspyrou
Location The Hellenic Centre, 16–18 Paddington Street, Marylebone, London W1U 5AS.
Dates 2 October – 16 November 2024
Admission Free of charge.
Opening hours Tue–Sat: 11am–5pm (extended opening till 8pm every Thursday)
During Frieze Art Fair 2024 8–10 October: 11am–8pm; 11–13 October: 11am–5pm.
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