Shadows: A Visual Tribute To John Cassavetes

The Hellenic American Union presents the exhibition "Shadows" as part of the 37th Panorama of European Cinema, paying tribute to the great Greek-American director John Cassavetes. Four young visual artists—Alexandros Vergis, Katerina Christopoulou, Vasilis Pafilis, and Virginia Axioti—illuminate, through their works, a world of shadows: the cinematic universe of John Cassavetes. The exhibition is curated by the renowned painter Yannis Psychopedis.

The opening will take place on Monday, October 21, 2024, at 7:30 PM, at the Hadjikyriakos-Ghikas Gallery of the Hellenic American Union (Massalias 22, Athens), and it will run until November 9, 2024.

John Cassavetes' 1959 film Shadows becomes the subject and meeting point between painting and cinema. This exhibition initiates a fruitful dialogue between the black-and-white cinematic atmosphere of the late 1950s and the vibrant, colorful visual language of today's era. As Yannis Psychopedis notes: "Cassavetes, the radical, pioneering director with his minimalist, improvisational, human-centered cinematic form, provides the raw material and inspiration for his 'Shadows' to be transformed into a visual feast of colors, shapes, techniques, and unique materials. The fluid black-and-white images of the film, the improvised rhythms, the expressive freedom, interpersonal conflicts, and emotional tensions are translated here by the four creators into a visual vocabulary filled with color pulses, unexpected material combinations, free artistic improvisations, and vivid, plastic emotion."

As part of the exhibition, and shortly before it concludes, John Cassavetes' film Shadows will be screened on Friday, November 8, at 7:00 PM at the Theater of the Hellenic American Union, with free admission.

Hours:

Monday – Friday: 12:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Saturday: 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
Sunday: Closed