A solo exhibition of Jannis Psychopedis’s at the Benaki Museum of his work for the 190 year anniversary of the death of Lord Byron. In August of 1823, Lord Byron arrived for the first time in Kefalonia in order to support the liberation movement and settled in the village of Metaxata for 4 months. Next to the house Byron inhabited and from which he conducted his fight offering selflessly to the Greek cause, Jannis Psychopedis -by pure chance- spent the month of August for the last 15 years. Gazing always over the same landscape –which altered imperceptibly through the years- the artist created each August a series of painted images, simple and direct, always in metaphorical, as well as literal, contact with Byron and his spiritual presence.
The painted dialog with the same landscape became a habit and an obsession that kept coming back steadily over the last 15 years, occurring only in August. The work produced all these years constitutes a systematic counterpoint to the rest of Psychopedis’ work, who for that single month each year is transformed to a landscape artist. The exhibition comprises of 50 aquarelles, three large wood engravings and a sculpture, all coming from the personal collection of the artist.
Exhibition curator: Konstantinos Papachristou
More info: http://www.benaki.gr
