Portraits: Aura of Life and Death

The Evagoras and Kathleen Lanitis Foundation in collaboration with the Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture present the exhibition “Portraits: Aura of Life and Death”, lasting from February 23rd to March 24th, 2018. In the exhibition, important aspects of the local modern and contemporary visual arts scene that are essentially linked to the concept of the portrait, will converse with Cypriot culture artefacts, in the context of an investigation of the historical, artistic and philosophical question of “what constitutes a Portrait”. By presenting thirty-seven artists from the State Gallery collections, the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation, the Pierides Museum, archives from prominent private collections, archaeological remains from the Cyprus Museum and the Limassol Archaeological Museum, Byzantine icons from the Archbishop Makarios III Foundation, historical documents from Pattichion Municipal Museum – Historical Archive Limassol (CVAR) and the Phivos Stavrides Archives, this exhibition is a testimony of the way portraits are perceived within Cypriot culture.

The exhibition’s conceptual structure captures the development of one of the oldest and most universal forms of art by examining the evolution of the local contemporary art scene, with a special focus on the traditional idea of portrait-making, but also though mass and pop culture.

The exhibition is divided into four sections. The first deals with the portrait as a depiction of superior authority, of a divine, military or political power. The second refers to self-portraits and the depiction of peers, whereas the third section presents portraits that depict aspects of daily life and practice. The fourth section examines the concept of the portrait as a construction of a reminiscence, as a memento mori (i.e. a reminder of mortality) that marks an expectation or a reminder of the death of the person depicted.

The particular selection of the exhibits aims at presenting work by artists who fall into different categories, in the belief that this would, on the one hand, challenge the linearity in the evolution of artistic creation and, on the other, throw light on the nature and practice of portraiture. The exhibition incorporates objects from the archaeological and medieval-byzantine heritage, works of art that cover a broad spectrum of artistic disciplines and media – painting, sculpture, photography to installations, video-art and interactive video projection – as well as objects drawn from daily life and pop culture.

“Portraits: Aura of life and death” will present the work of Maria Andreou, Ioannis Antoniou, Klitsa Antoniou, Christos Avraam, Helene Black, Eleni Chariklidou, Savvas Christodoulides, Marianna Constanti, Kyriaki Costa, Antonis Tziarrides, Costas Economou, Lefteris Economou, Peter Eramian, Solomos Frangoulides, Andys Hadjiadamos, Yioula Hadjigeorgiou, Glyn Hughes, Victoras Ioannides, Tilemachos Kanthos, Andreas Karayan, Kyriakos Kousoulides, Peter Loizos, Angelos Makrides, Niki Marangou, Georgios Mavroides, Nicos Nicolaides, Loukia Nicolaidou, Lefteris Olympios, PASHIAS, Marios Piperides, Andreas Savva, ,Efi Savvides, Leonidas Spanos, Kostas Stathis, Kaiti Stephanidou, Two for Two, Stelios Votsis.

Curated by Dr. Efi Kyprianidou

Duration of the exhibition: 23.2 – 24.3 / 2018

Daily: 09.00 – 13:00 & 17:00 – 20:00
Saturday and Sunday: 14:00 – 19:00
Closed on Mondays