BY GLYN HUGHES


Adi and Martyn

top the bill

A COMPETITION has been taking place to choose the works of art to be displayed at the new Supreme Court

I heard there was a show at Castelliotissa for a couple of days so popped in, although on the first visit discovered the place closed, a situation I am finding most usual these days.

The results were all squashed together in the beautiful building, just like the paintings and photographs in the large mixed one a month ago.

The special committee for choosing works of art to be placed at the Supreme Court building has announced the ones chosen following a contest. After the relevant contest, the special committee has chosen by majority the proposal of Martyn Meason and Adi Atassi (code number 27762280) to be placed at the lobby (position A) and unanimously the proposal of Helen Black (code number 7263507) to be placed at the commissary (Position B).

Futhermore, according to the contest terms, the special committee has awarded Position A with two cash prizes, of Θ800 to the proposals of Theodoulos Gregoriou (code number 0560322) and George Sfikas (code number 0001000).

For Position B, the special committee has awarded two cash prizes of Θ500 each to the proposals of George Kypris (code number 1301923) and George Sfikas 9 (code number 0003000).

The special committee was under the presidency of Eleni Nikita, Head of Cultural Services, representative of the Ministry of Education, and the vice-presidency of Nicos Nicolaou, Educational Official A, Cultural Services.

It just happened that I met Adi and Martyn near the Maronite coffee shop and they kindly pointed out their work which was sort of shoved in at the back.

They told me of their concept in the design:

"Our approach to this subject has been to create an artwork that manages to compliment rather than dominate an already interesting architectural space.

"Bearing in mind an awareness that function and form impact on each other, we have attempted to respond not only to the building’s use as a courthouse but also to the feel of the architecture.

"The design of the entrance hall combines more or less equally large areas of raw concrete and glass, creating a very contemporary geometric space that suggests the dichotomy of protection and exposure, industrial strength and fragility.

"These oppositions in turn suggest a metaphor that could be applied to the notion of a robust society and its relationship to the ‘vulnerable’ individual – a relationship that at its heart is governed by the law.

"We decided to embody this relationship by combining images based on fingerprints (a symbol for the individual), with fragments from Hammurabi’s Code of Laws – these are the earliest surviving law codes from the ancient Middle East, best known from an engraved diorite stela, now in the Louvre museum. This was the earliest - known example of a ruler proclaiming publicly to his people an entire body of laws.

"The beautiful pictographic form of the language, written in a vertical format, acts as an abstract counterbalance to the almost concentric circular form of the fingerprint motifs – these in turn are reminiscent of ripples of water, or diagrams of sound waves/ shock waves (from an earthquake for example).

This acts as a kind of visual metaphor for the way in which the impact of the Hammurabi code has been a continual influence, and is still felt in the laws of all countries through the world.

"We have used strong industrial metals, iron and copper, to give a sense of indestructibility. We propose to rust these materials for 1 or 2 weeks and then to varnish them to suggest the passing of time but also to obtain an aesthetic variety of subtle colour. We also intend to attach each piece so that they are 10cm off the wall (using especially-designed rowbolts) in order to imply a contradictory quality of paper-like fragility. The central fingerprint motif will be black paint on Perspex, a material that brings the whole theme up to date."

As Adi and Martyn were leaving, Kyriaki Costa arrived to look at the exhibits amongst which she had two (with Melina Shukuroglu) and the Arts Page adds a photographs of these designs

Dutch master

is damaged

AMSTERDAM (AP)

A MAN sprayed a chemical over one of the most renowned paintings in Amsterdam's Rijksmuseumy, damaging its varnish, a museum spokesman said.

The painting attacked was ''The Banquet in Celebration of the Treaty of Muenster'' by Dutch painter Bartholomeus van der Helst, a giant oil on canvas 5.47 m wide and 2.32 m high, completed in 1648.

The work is similar to the museum's most famous attraction - Rembrandt's ''Night Watch,'' said spokesman Boris de Munnick.

But he stressed that ''Night Watch'' was not affected by the attack.

Guards immediately detained the 69-year-old man and police arrested him a short time later, said De Munnick.

It was not immediately clear if the attacker had been charged.

De Munnick said that the chemical appeared only to have affected the layer of varnish covering the painting.

''At this moment, we think that the damage to the painting is relatively minor,'' he said.

The motive for the attack was not immediately known. De Munnick said the attacker did not say anything when he sprayed the painting.

''We have no idea why he did it,'' De Munnick said.

The Rijksmuseum is currently undergoing extensive renovations and much of the building is closed to the public.

Security is tight for visitors to the exhibition galleries that are still open, and it was not clear how the attacker managed to smuggle the chemical into the museum.

Glyptotek museum

reopened

COPENHAGEN (AP)

COPENHAGEN'S famed Glyptotek - best known for its Impressionist paintings, antique sculptures, an Etruscan collection and Danish art - reopened this week after three years of renovation, the museum said.

The downtown museum with its trademark Venetian renaissance front was built in 1897 by Carl Jacobsen, son of the Carlsberg brewery founder, to display his personal art collections.

''We went through a major renovation with a wish to keep it in Jacobsen's spirit,'' manager Flemming Friborg told reporters as he stood under a glass dome covering the museum's subtropical winter garden.

Jacobsen idea was to offer Danes a place to come from a cold, rainy day and sit among exotic plants before deciding which collection to see, Friborg said.

Glyptotek still exhibits Jacobsen's collections, including masterpieces by Impressionists Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Edgar Degas, Paul Cezanne and Pierre Renoir; paintings by Postimpressionists Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Vincent van Gogh and Pierre Bonnard, as well as sculptures by Auguste Rodin that are considered the Frenchman's most important collection outside France.

Later, the museum's acquisitions swelled to 10,000 pieces, including rare paintings by Paul Gauguin, who briefly lived in Copenhagen when he was married to a Danish woman.

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary reopened the museum, located across the street from Copenhagen's famed Tivoli amusement park.

Friborg said the Glyptotek, which had 350,000 visitors a year, half of them foreigners, had long harbored complaints about poor access facilities for visitors.

Two Carlsberg foundations for arts and sciences decided to donate 13.4m euros for the renovation ahead of the museum's 100th anniversary in 2007.

Half the money was spent expanding the basement under the entrance hall to create a new public foyer with a ticket sales office, cloakrooms and toilets. Earlier, visitors queued at the museum entrance hall and often outside because of lack of space.

The rest went into a fresh coat of paint, glass showcases and lightning, as well as new signs next to the artifacts in Danish and English ''to help foreign guests,'' Friborg said. Also, visitors will in the future be able to search the museum's digital database or look at huge video screens for historical background of the artworks.

Vicky Breaks

the mould

IT WAS probably only a matter of time before someone broke the cultural ice after the bizarre Manifesta episode.

Vicky Pericleous was just the right person to do it, too.

It was Vicky who after an evening at the Weaving Mill full of Cypriots - Greek and Turkish - and the rest of us, who questioned the "EASE" of having events back and forth across the Green Line.

Now the whole thing has been "mucked up," and don’t tell me "green" in another sense does not play a role.

Contemporary art must continue

Come along tonight near that little church/mosque? by the restaurant at the back of the school in the old town, was the call.

Not a car in sight, thank God, but the creative cream of "this side" sitting or standing facing an old house that had a saxophonist and a violinist playing on the upstairs balcony bedecked with two flags of nondescript colour and design. A crumble of mappery, stagnant in the night air of downtown Nicosia.

Come across and inside said Vicky, and so I went past the forlorn array of shoes and boxes. The sparely-lit rooms with soulless walls. The occassional light near a photograph of yore. Past remembrances.

Clambering further up the rickety stairs and grasping a none-existent rail with my spare hand I eventually reached a balcony (it was possible to go higher but my varicose veins were about to get revenge) and stared out into a nothingness except for the dull glowing band around the heads of the two minarets.

And, imagine, there were artists over on the other side, too. Equally forsaken to the darkness of creation these days.

Still On

GEORGE Lanitis, at Gloria Gallery until July 6.

A must.

The beautifully-executed realist mixed exhibition continues at Gallery K until the end of June (tonight).

Keith Walker exhibits nudes in pastel, chalk and pencil at Art CafE, Polis, until July 24. Keith also has the Walker Gallery in Lasa village but for this venue. Tel first 26732497 or 99806664, Keith says: "To be sure that I am there and not out sailing, diving or on location!"

Forza 9 Gallery: Oneira Dreams is the debut exhibition of Cypriot artist Chindo from Tera village. Exhibition from Saturday, July 1 until Sunday, July 16.

The exhibition will be opened festively on July 1 (tomorrow) at 7pm.

The Vasilikos Winery is sponsoring the opening by donating a few cases of their excellent wines.

Efrosini Hastoupi–Parousi’s painting exhibition at Kypriaki Gonia closes tonight

Last chance, too, for the art exhibition at Curium Gallery "Figures in Art," located at Grivas Dighenis, Curium roundabout, Limassol. Original artwork celebrating the human form in different guises by Mary Theodosi, Nada, Jolanta Kalopsidiotou, Peter Whiting, Fiona Jack. Also fine art prints by Vettriano, Hopper and Martinez.

Helios School, 2005-2006. Monday, July 3-8 at Argo Gallery, 8pm, Excellent.

Maria Perandou until July 8, at Diatopos. Moving, serious work.

From Wednesday, July 5, at Kypriaki Gonia. Five in One: Vaso Thoupou, Maria Koudouna, Maria Cherisafi, Mariza Bargilly, Sophia Sofocleous. Until July 20.

Shadows in the Ocean: City Art Gallery. Olivera Papathoma. Opening tonight, Friday, at 9 pm - until 15th July. Live street jazz band.

Opus 39 continues with a mixed show until July 8.

Chamber of Fine

Arts Assembly

The Executive Committee of the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts cordially invites its members to attend the Pancyprian General and Constitutional Assembly on Saturday, July 1 at 10:30 a.m., at Melina Merkouri Hall in Nicosia (close to Famagusta Gate).

Tel. 22430703.

The Assembly is of great importance since it will proceed to set forth amendments in the Statute of E.KA.TE. In addition, the members of the new Executive Committee and a Committee of Ranking and Judgments/Admissions will be elected.

For any information please call Tel.22 466426 or 99 562877.

Frangou exhibits

in Athens

An exhibition of paintings on Greek Mythology and its links to the island is being staged in Athens next week by a local self-taught artist.

The event at the Cyprus Paraskevaidion Cultural Centre on July 3-14 will include 50 pieces by Demetris Anastassiou Frangou.

Anastassiou Frangou took part in the EOKA struggle for the island’s independence, during which he was arrested. In prison he met the struggle’s hero, Michalakis Parides, who encouraged him to dedicate his life to painting the history of the island’s culture.

The collection is based on research for over a decade on the island’s Greek mythology and priceless pieces mirroring it in top museums worldwide like the British Museum, the Getty Museum and the private collections.

The work is oil, pastel and acrylic of Greek mythology representations including "The Abduction of Europe" and "Leda with the Swan."

Other works include the second vase of Kalavassos 850BC, Cyprus Museum: Odysseus bound to the mast, 476 BC, which is the British Museum and amphora from the 5th century BC from Platani village in the occupied Famagusta region.

The artist is already working on a collection of the ships used in the Greek Revolution in 1821.

In his address at the opening of the exhibition in Nicosia last summer, Edek chairman Vassos Lyssarides referred to Anastassiou Frangou as a "pure ideologist and fighter and pure in his artistic performance and service to the weaker people who needed his support.

"Taken by the ancient Greek culture, life and art, he is reflected by mastery, sensitivity and professional talent, although he is not a professional, " noted Lyssarides.