Alexander The Great

The Blender Gallery in collaboration with Varvara Roza Galleries is pleased to host an exhibition of new works by New York artist Philip Tsiaras. As a painter, photographer, ceramicist, bronze and glass sculptor, Tsiaras’s work touches on practically all art forms. In a conceptual sense Tsiaras believes that “each exhibition should contain an unexpected element of surprise”. The new Tsiaras works at Blender Gallery, in fact, explore the world of an obsessed Pointillist artist with a love of Portraiture – The Tsiaras DOT, tiny but with intense power -transforms the many Myths of Alexander the Great in constantly changings visions of the historic Legend.  Alexander is infused with a myriad of painted, multicolored coordinates and activated dots, bordering on what Tsiaras calls “ the scientific of sensualism”, or in archaic terms, a modern Greco-Roman mosaic.  Tsiaras comes full circle, as a classic black and white photographer experimenting with portraiture in his early career, to realize a new painterly language in realistic hand-dotted personas.Tsiaras himself, of Macedonia origin, focused on Alexander the Great as the quintessential figure to represent the 200thanniversary of Greek Independence. “For me Alexander is the ultimate Hellenist, no other figure is history has the exotic power, romance, and legendary fantasy of Alexander the Great”  The Alexander portraits are an Impressionistic and Surreal foray in to the history of   portraiture, and into the memory of this iconic giant.The exhibition opening will take place on Sunday 30th May, 17:00-22:00. The number of people entering the space will be based on the gallery’s square meters and on the new measures. Philip Tsiaras is an international Greek artist who lives and works in New York City. Since 1974 he made more than 75 one-person exhibitions Including: Seattle Museum of Art, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki, Mannheimer Kunstverien, Mannheim, Bernier Gallery, Athens, Studio Palazzoli, Milan, Shea & Beker Gallery, New York, Margulies/Taplin Gallery, Miami, Tegnerforbundet Gallery. Oslo, Museum Santa Apollonia, Venice, Gallerie Dominion, Montreal, Swank/ The Regency-Intercontinental, Hong Kong, Newport Art Museum, R.I., Villa Reale, Monza, The Currier Museum, N.H., Spazio Cavallieri di Malta, Syracusa, Pinakotech of the Cyclades, Syros, International Contemporary Art Fair, Istanbul, Bienalle of Photography, Torino, De Novo Gallery, Sun Valley, Cento St. Benin, Aosta, Pinakotech of Ithaca, Museum of Contemporary Art, Crete, Museum of Photography, Thessaloniki, Stella Art Foundation, Moscow, Museum of Modern Art, Shenzhen. Tsiaras works in a great range of media–painting, photography, glass, ceramic, and bronze. He has exhibited in the Venice Biennale three times and produced a ten foot bronze sculpture on the Grand Canal entitled “Social Climber”. Τsiaras has been the recipient of many national prizes: The American Academy Award for Poetry, The Thomas Watson Fellowship, New York State C.A.P.S grant, two N.E.A. National Endowment Grants for Arts, nomination for the Blickle Stiftung International Photography Prize, Germany and The Generali Assicurazioni Gold Metal Award for “Civilita” Venice. Tsiaras’ works are widely collected in corporate, private and important museum collections, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Fifteen books and catalogues are attributed to his work, most notably monographs published by Electa and Mondadori books, and a book of photographs entitled, “Family Album” published by Contrasto, Rome. A recent 30 year retropsective of photography entitled Philip Tsiaras- SUPEREAL was published by the Muesum of Photography Thessaloniki.