It must be spring
THE economy appears to have revived already.
No sooner do we have the reasonable prices of the current (and excellent) exhibition at Is Not
A Gallery, then all of a sudden prices shoot up in certain other galleries in town.
It may be to do with size and reputation, of course.
Quality reigns, however. There is excellent work at all of them.
Is Not A Gallery has excellent art but so has Apocalypse, Argo and Opus 39, too.
There are visual stars all around.
Perhaps it is all to do with the size of your room.
However, there appears to be lots of cash around once again.
It seems like bargains everywhere.
Or is it Christmas?
Glafcos Koumides, at Apocalypse
Glafcos has recently had a wonderful exhibition at Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre and, although
his themes are re-visited it could be that the Apocalypse exhibition relates and belongs and being a commercial gallery one
can buy, of course.
Mostly, paintings – although there are also some wonderful pieces.
A most moving exhibition with emotion strewn around - for example, a workshop in chaos where
even a lino roller has built-in passion.
I quote (without permission) from a piece by Jules Laforgue in Glafcos’s catalogue:
“My image of Koumides is that of the bicycle rider. Koumides lives in Nicosia and works
in the old part within the walls.
“I have come across Koumides on his bicycle many times and I always felt an unconscious
need to greet him. The black or (as I want to believe) dark blue coat, the cap and the smile lend a symbolic meaning to the
notion of greeting.
“The cyclist, the rider, the source. The clearing and the moon.
“Koumides also writes poetry, notes and thoughts. As much as I have tried to indulge in
my own memory-reminiscence of the bicyclist, I could not find lucid correspondence.”
Stefano Paci, Argo Gallery
This is painting, in full rich colour, that is near to my eyes. An immense warmth surrounds.
The beautiful pigment fills the space with each work
Stefano Paci was born in Fano, Italy, he studied in Urbino in the Istitute Statale d’Arte
of the town.
He lives in Limassol and works between Italy and Cyprus.
Between 1982 and 1985, he worked with the Pesaro group Emarginante, with a production of music,
poetry and theatre, installation, performance, videos and magazines.
The most important shows were the 2nd International Festival of poetry, University
of Rome; Video 80, the International Exhibition of video, at Palazzo del Diamanti, Ferrara and I Colori della Notte in a number
of cities of the Pesaro-Urbino region,
Stefano has had eleven personal exhibitions and nine collective ones
This is a superb exhibition with powerful paintings in glorious colour.
Father and son
Christos Christou and Achilleas Christou are at Opus 39.
Christos was born in Paphos in 1950 and studied engraving, painting and sculpture at the Ecole
des Beaux Arts, Paris.
He lives and works in Paris.
Achilleas Christou was born in Paris in 1979 and attended the Academie Charpentier fine art school,
Paris, from 2002 -2003 with further studies at Metallica, La Giraudie.
Christos’ paintings at this show are mainly portraits painted with a great feeling for
depth of character and purity of pigment. Achilleas’ work here at Opus is mainly abstract, with sharp forms working
together in harmony.
Rich colours belonging to each other.