The Odyssey Within is a captivating survey of modern-day artists from Greece and Italy. The artistic conceptions vary dramatically while retaining a distinctive European character attentive to the human condition. Works of both quiet introspection and visual bravado are included, offering a unique look into the contemporary art coming from these two prominent Mediterranean locales.
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Ece Abay
 
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Artist Ece Abay’s work reflects her interest in dreamscapes, symbolism, and Greek mythology—with which she particularly identifies, being of Greek descent. Abay reinterprets collective imagery in a personal context, creating symbolic self-portraits. She has worked with monotype and intaglio, but prefers woodcut because it enables her to build thick layers of color and control the opacity and volume of her inks. By accentuating key areas, she visually leads the viewer through her symbology and achieves a organic and mysterious effect consistent with her emphasis on interior life. Her colors are emblematic of her state of mind at the time of creation, deepening her works’ emotional implications.
Like the strange, poignant, idiosyncratic visual language of Frida Kahlo, Abay’s dark, beautiful visions are inexplicably evocative. Her compositions convey a sense of flow, as if the descriptive elements are suspended in amniotic fluid, or are as ephemeral as dreams in flux. |
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"Chaotic Birth"
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"Sultan of the Night"
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Sophia Angelis
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While Sophia Angelis lives and works in Greece, her art transcends her residency. Armed with universal themes and an urgent desire to convey messages the everyday observers often overlook, Angelis paints with strength, joy and thought-provoking optimism. For years Angelis struggled with serial tragedies that threatened to bind her, much like the ships tied at the jetty in her A’ Period. However Angelis’ triumph has been in realizing the vanity of our existence, reconciling with death and finding strength in the joy of life.
Sophia Angelis’ work explores the power of color and symbolism. From splendid landscapes to her portrayals of Greek culture, her paintings are poetry on canvas. She vividly expresses autobiographical experiences and existential quests in an attempt for a deeper perception into the human soul. Through her work, Sophia Angelis beckons the viewer to stop and rediscover life's true treasures, nature, peace, love and friendship. Angelis’ work has been featured in numerous group and solo exhibitions throughout the world. |
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"Dis-Connected People"
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"Mirror"
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Enzo Casale
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The eyes have it, they say, and as the eyes of Enzo Casale's creations bore out from the paper, one could be forgiven for thinking, for just a moment, that these are sentient beings living their lives in the two dimensional planes of their painted worlds. Italian fashion designer and artist Enzo Casale is a master of expressions. After a childhood spent drawing on the paper tablecloths of his parent's restaurant, Enzo has established himself as an artist, illustrator, and designer. His creations are strong, bold entities; barely chromatic, Enzo places his works in the shade where they none the less burn with an undeniable, indefinable intensity.
Ethnicity is blurred in Enzo's pieces, his fabricated subjects hail from no particular place, yet carry the characteristics of us all. Blended in each face is the possibility of unity, of a single origin, or perhaps of a single goal. There is a great coming together in these pieces, the works of a new Italian Master. |
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"Daily Looks XVIII"
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"Daily Looks XIX"
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Stefano Cattai
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Stefano Cattai creates his paintings and mixed media works in response to contemporary and societal events that peak his interest. His works are like stages set up for surrealist dramas to unfold. “The human presence interacts with fanciful architectural structures, with animals and with the vegetable kingdom,” he explains, “without forgetting about the connection with technology.” Cattai’s style is bold and physical with an emphasis placed on swirling brushwork and an energetic palette. His mixed media works are divergent stylistically, using clippings from magazines to achieve a comparatively orderly appearance, employing intricate pattern and an ostensibly puppet-like construction while maintaining his characteristic sense of drama.
Stefano Cattai studied at the University Accademia Belle Arti in Venice, Italy where he was exposed to a variety of cultures that revealed an appreciation for Surrealism and Pop Art. He has exhibited frequently around Italy and recently acquired representation in New York. Cattai lives and works in Italy |
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"Modelli Perfetti"
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"Enjoy Your Time"
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Antonis Choudalakis
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Painter Antonis Choudalakis grew up on the island of Crete, where he studied Greek and Roman frescoes; in his work he applies his paints to wet plaster, as the ancient Mediterranean did. The results are portraits of intense melancholy and introspection, presented to us in sunburned browns. These could be portraits of Icarus, Prometheus, or even Hector, with an added dimension of complex psychological turmoil. Antonis has chosen the form of fresco "to understand the way time works in relation to our lives." He further elaborates on this theme by using as his base pieces of wood which he has separated, or jaggedly cut. These are fragments excavated from a temple of ancient memories, and have reddened from exposure to the light of personal scrutiny. Antonis' entire artistic process is reflected here, for just as our recollections can grow disjointed over time, Antonis' subjects present themselves to us broken, as it were, by their tormented psyches.
Antonis Choudalakis' dialogue with ancient art forms, and his place in the contemporary moment, brings forth works of a unique character. Yet he has captured moods which are just as real to us as they were in the ancient world. Antonis is carrying forth with an artistic tradition, yet he makes it entirely his own. |
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"Untitled6"
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"Untitled4"
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Panos Evangelopoulos
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“Every modern-day painter has the right to conceive his or her own alphabet, from A to Z,” says Panos Evangelopoulos, so one must be prepared to become familiar with a different, intimate alphabet when one views the works of this Greek artist. Though it may sound intimidating at first, one quickly realizes that this is no foreign language that Panos' pieces seek to converse in, but rather it is the language of experience gained, experience shared.
Educated at the School of Art of the Aristotelio University of Thessaloniki, Panos graduated with a strong style, and at the head of his class. He has gone on to exhibit widely in Greece, and has received many accolades. Religious iconography features heavily in many of his pieces, but these works go far beyond mere religiosity, instead speaking of deep transformation with the juxtaposition of classic figures against the wild artistic hinterlands of conception. In a phrase, these aren't your Grandmother's crucifixes. |
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"Crucifixion 2"
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"Crucifixion 1"
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Alessandro Fabriani
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Composing deep and animated surrealist landscapes, Alessandro Fabriani melds classical and iconic 20th century styles. His forward thinking watercolors, however, turn toward future and contemporary subject matters, orchestrating extraordinarily accessible scenes that house his ambitious floating collages of modern flotsam. Though his soft and lulling textures coat illustrations of frolicsome objects and structures, his calculated arenas emulate elements from Salvador Dalí and René Magritte. Fabriani´s works prominently explore the geography of the subconscious mind and confront spiritual, artistic and scientific dilemmas with whimsical aesthetics and occasionally reach into the overwhelmingly ethereal implications of post-Impressionist themes in the face of modern thought and invention. The results often blur distinctions between the real and imaginary and animate and inanimate by pulling them together to the point of collision and synthesis.
Though originally from Rome, where he studied art and architecture, Fabriani now lives in Sweden and has exhibited his works across Europe in Berlin, Stockholm, Rome, Basel, Vienna and Paris. |
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"Chess - The Rook"
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"Reflextion - Einstein"
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Tatiana Ferahian
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When life is tumultuous, art can serve as a channel of peace, a place to exorcise the demons that plague the mind and soul. Born in Lebanon during the civil war, Tatiana Ferahian escaped to Cyprus at the age of 14, where she turned to artistic expression, releasing the conflict and fear borne of her experiences, and discovering that beyond them lay hopes and ideals, aspirations for a brighter future.
Her work is delicate, intricate, and intense. It has been exhibited across Cyprus and as far afield as New York and Beijing. Her formal training took place in both the graphic design and fine art fields, and has resulted in pieces rendered with a technical artistry that delights not only the creative, but also the logical. From war-torn Lebanon, to the galleries of the globe, Tatiana's journey has been a long one, and her works show this forth. Each piece is a pilgrimage on canvas, an invitation to share a little of the artist's path. |
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"Stencil 1"
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"Stencil 2"
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Raffaele Gatta
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Raffaele Gatta is a young Italian artist who creates probing, visionary art with both painting and photography. His works are characterized by the individual’s quest for meaning, connection, and understanding. Usin | | |