Exhibition “Creative Encounters 2022” Kyriakos Rokos – Roubina Sarelakou

Astralón travels to Metsovo and shares with you a remarkable art-filled excursion that we highly recommend.

The first days of autumn found us in the village of Metsovo. A unique cultural trip within the framework of the exhibition Creative Encounters 2022 Kyriakos Rokos – Roubina Sarelakou at the E. Averoff Art Gallery.

Starting with a grand opening on Saturday morning, September 24th, we had the opportunity to take the first walk through this marvelous exhibition, minutes after listening to the opening speeches by Tatiana Averoff-Ioannou, Evangelos Averoff-Tossizza Foundation’s president, Konstantinos Tasoulas, elected President of the Hellenic Parliament, and by the art historian and curator of the exhibition George Mylonas.

The tasting and guided tour at the Katogi Averoff Winery that followed was overlooking the wonderful scenery of Pindos’ mountains and it was a magnificent experience as well, as the meal was accompanied by some of the best wines.

In the afternoon, we returned back to the exhibition space to honor the artists Roubina Sarelakou and Kyriakos Rokos, to indulge in the curator’s tour, and to hear the artists’ own personal testimonies about their work, their life, and Metsovo itself.
We highly recommend you organize a trip to Metsovo, where nature, culture, tradition, tastes and wonderful people coexist in harmony. A place you‘ll never forget!

Read below for more information about the exhibition and the artists.

This year, the E. Averoff Art Gallery hosts two renowned artists and beloved friends of the gallery: sculptor Kyriakos Rokos and painter-engraver Roubina Sarelakou.

Kyriakos Rokos, who is mostly known as a distinguished sculptor, presents this time a different side of his work: a total of 50 drawings on paper from his series “Secret Dispatches 2008-2021” and “Thirty-one drawings and one sculpture in search of a poet”, in which he depicts allegorical and surrealistic images focusing on humankind and humanity’s “intercourse” with the present era of socioeconomic crisis. These drawings constitute an independent part of his creative work – in other words, they are not simply sketches serving as drafts for future finished works, but independent and complete works of art in themselves that showcase the artist’s dexterity in depicting on paper his unmediated inspiration, drawn from his experiences, feelings, dreams, and thoughts.

Roubina Sarelakou, also a multifaceted artist, awarded by the Academy of Athens for her engraving work, presents a series of forty woodcuts she created in the 1970s and 1980s. Drawing original inspiration from her personal experiences in Paris, she depicts with realistic precision everyday objects, old buildings, fruits, machinery etc. with realistic accuracy, capturing an inner dialogue with inanimate objects that gives them substance, a dream and a voice. The exhibition also includes a very recent work of hers – an applied art installation consisting of two chairs and a table, on the surfaces of which she incorporates works of engraving – as well as the original blocks used in four of her engravings that will help the public gain a deeper understanding of the art of woodcut.

The exhibition is curated by art historian George Mylonas, who offers us a penetrating look into the work of the two artists.

Exhibition Duration: 24/09/2022 – 16/01/2023

Opening Hours: 10.00 – 16.00 daily (closed on Tuesdays)