ART-PREVIEW:Nikos Stefanou

An artist with a special work in the modern’ scenery that is required by the works of the Epic Theater and the Theater of the Absurd, Nikos Stefanou, knows how to create with his own hands and simple materials, a magical world for the viewer both in painting and in scenography.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Alexis Veroucas Archive

Α major retrospective of the works of painter and set designer Nikos Stefanou featuring works from all phases of his artistic creation, from the early works of the 1950s to the present day is on presentation in Hydra, under the title “The Secret Atelier of Nico Stefanou. The Games We Played” are on show 40 paintings, equal number of set designs, a large set of constructions, toys and small sculptures. In his 70-years of work Nikos Stefanou managed o balance between myth and realism, so as part of the retrospective the visitor of Hydra will see in the port 3 large assemblies about 9 meters each, from materials such as plywood, cloth, copper tubes and painted paper. The first is the “Two Ancient Towers”, a familiar and repeated element of the artist’s paintings with a visitable interior space full of surprises. The other are: a copy of a Henri Farman biplane converted to a hydroplane by the first military aviator in Greek history, Dimitrios Kamberos (born in Hydra on 1883). With tis plane Kamberos on June 1912, broke the world speed record at 110 km/h flying from Neon Faliron to Hydra, promised gift to the Municipality of Hydra. The other work is the “Postali” (mail boat), a wooden painted construction that represents  the first cargo & passenger steamship in history, a gift to the Municipality of Hydra by Alexis Veroucas Collection. Born in Piraeus in 1933, Nikos Stefanou at the age of 17, he began to create theatrical sets, learning the art of painting, alongside many great Greek painters and stage designers. In 1951/52 he participated in the conservation of mosaics in the Daphni Monastery and copied icons and murals in Mount Athos and in the Kaisariani Monastery. He attended as a listener of the Pantelis Prevelakis Art History course at the School of Fine Arts. In the three years 1952/55 he signed his first theatrical sets. Ιn addition to his work in the theater, he also began painting. The factories, with their chimneys and their smoke, are memories and emotions of his childhood, from his visits to Gazi, his father’s workplace, and dominated his early works, but to this day appear as an independent bundles or are incorporated as fragments into other compositions. At his urging, an artistic core was created in the 1960s by himself Alekos Fassianos and Vassilis Sperantzas. The three artists worked for about a decade at the famous, studio in Kallithea, where until then the painter A. Kepetzis worked alone. This common place of work and meeting greatly influenced not only the work of the three artists but also their other colleagues during the ’60 & ‘70s.

Info: Curator: Alexis Veroucas, ex Hydra Workshop, Port of Hydra, Hydra Island, Duration 24/8-29/9/19, Days & Hours: 11:00-15:00 & 19:00-24:00