VENICE: THE EMBASSY OF GREECE AND THE HELLENIC INSTITUTEPRESENT GEORGE PETRIDES’ HELLENIC HEADS
Six monumental busts are on exhibit in the courtyard of the Church of St. George of the Greeks (San Giorgio dei Greci) and The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies of Venice
Venice, IT – The Embassy of Greece in Rome and The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies of Venice, in cooperation with the Honorary Consulate of Greece in Venice and the Greek Orthodox Community of Venice, and with the support of the Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy present Hellenic Heads: George Petrides, A Personal Exploration of Greek History and Culture Over 2,500 Years. The exhibition will take place in the courtyard of the Church of St. George of the Greeks (San Giorgio dei Greci) adjoining the Hellenic Institute, a short walk from the Arsenale and St. Mark’s Square, daily until 24 November 2024.
Sculptor George Petrides said: “I am honored that the Hellenic Heads continue to circle the globe, sharing our Greek history and culture with tens of thousands of visitors. In this fifth stop, in Venice, I am humbled that my works are just a few steps from the treasures of Greek culture which are exhibited in the Museum of icons, including a collection of important Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons, manuscripts and liturgical and other objects, and the Church of St. George of the Greeks, whose construction was started by Greeks in 1548, while Michelangelo was creating his masterpieces, and continues to serve the Greek Orthodox Community - the oldest non-Italian community in Venice.
I am grateful to Ambassador of Greece in Rome Eleni Sourani, Hellenic Institute President Vasileios Koukousas, Honorary Consul General of Greece in Venice Bruno Bernardi, President of the Greek Orthodox Community in Venice Dimitrios Zafeiropoulos, Archbishop of Italy Polykarpos and Cultural Manager Eleftheria Gkoufa for their generous support.”Timelessness is further emphasized by the perennial themes addressed by each work, such as the mirroring of female military leaders in the Greek War of Independence with the role of female leadership today; and the head honoring Greek Jews murdered by Nazis, shockingly relevant as antisemitism, is again on the rise. There is deep symbolism in the work referring to the plight of the refugees who fled the burning Smyrna 100 years ago and those fleeing violence today.
An AP news overview of the Biennale included coverage of the exhibit: “Petrides’ created six oversized busts, each inspired by a significant period of Greek history, using family members as models. His mother, in turquoise blue, is in the classical style and his daughter represents the future in a golden hue. To withstand the weather, Petrides recreated an earlier series but this time from recycled plastic, using a digital sculpting software and a 3D printer, reworking details from hand.
“This space is unique. We have the Museum of Icons here, which is one of the most spectacular collections of icons in the world. We have a church started while Michelangelo was still alive, which any sculptor finds interesting. But further, this particular quarter is the Greek quarter,’’ he said, noting an influx after Constantinople fell to the Ottomans in 1453.”
Hellenic Heads is a traveling exhibition, with Venice being its fifth stop. Three more venues will follow, in Europe and Asia, for a total of eight around the world. It debuted at the Embassy of Greece to the USA in Washington, D.C. for Europe Day 2022, then traveled to the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago, Illinois (installation photos may be seen here). In parallel, an extensive catalog has been produced, which combines presentations of the historical periods with Petrides' sculptures (it may be accessed here).
The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies of Venice, Greece's only scientific and research institution abroad, has one of the most important collections of Byzantine and post-Byzantine icons in the world (https://istitutoellenico.org). The historic Greek Orthodox Community of Venice has been active continuously from the Middle Ages to the present day. (see Comunità dei Greci Ortodossi in Venezia - Ελληνική Κοινότητα Βενετίας). Next to the Hellenic Institute is the Orthodox Church of St. George (San Giorgio dei Greci), which can be visited at the same time as the exhibition. Construction of the Church began in 1548 after a large influx of Greeks arrived in Venice with the Fall of Constantinople in 1453.
Access www.petrides.art for more press coverage in both Greek and English.
ABOUT GEORGE PETRIDES
George Petrides, who lives and works in New York City and Athens, Greece, creates a diverse range of sculpture, including abstract pieces and public works. Born in Athens in 1964 and raised there and in New York, he is steeped in ancient Greek sculpture and the works that were influenced by it (ancient Roman sculpture, renaissance sculptors such as Donatello, Michelangelo, later sculptors such as Rodin and Maillol and contemporary sculptors who are influenced by these tradition such as Charles Ray and Huma Bhabha.) His creative process is of his own invention, combining ancient and contemporary methods, including traditional clay modeling by hand, digital sculpting and 3D printing, and often ending with bronze-casting in the manner of the ancient Greeks.
Petrides’ first career was on New York’s Wall Street. At age 32, he took his first-ever art class in oil painting. He continued to study and make art part-time for more than 20 years, taking drawing, painting and sculpture classes at the New York Studio School and The Art Students League in New York, with occasional classes at L'Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. He was drawn there to study in the same rooms where some of his influencers once studied: Louise Bourgeois, Alberto Giacometti, Isamu Noguchi among others. In 2017, he decided to dedicate himself to making art full time.
Petrides is also known for his large scale public sculptures. During the centennial of the burning of Smyrna, his sculpture Refugee -- an enlargement of the Hellenic Head Refugee – was unveiled in an Athens neighborhood, Neo Psychiko, where refugees settled in the 1920s. Presently, his statue Mother and Child is being erected in central Athens on the campus of Aretaieion Hospital, part of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. Aretaieion provides high quality medical care to women, in addition to general surgery, at no charge. The statue, 2.6 meters tall, will be unveiled during the celebration of Mothers Day, 12 May 2024.