CORFU, GREECE
Of all the villages on all the islands in all the world, she had walked into this one.
The Greek green island of Corfu was an easy next destination after twenty years of magical beach life on a tiny Caribbean isle. Steeped in stories of heroes from Dinoysus to the Durrells, Corfu with its 60 beaches, lush hiking trails, World Heritage capital and beautiful southern light felt like home. I love the changing seasons and chose an old stone house with a stremma of land to tend. There was a mysterious more.....
"We will play nice when we catch them, and sing!" Acrylic on canvas 120 x 90
THE NEW ART
After series of puzzling, perhaps perplexing dark paintings of the lockdown years, spring arrived and the star of much of my work again took centre stage. Black Dog is back, this time as a star indeed of a complex drama set in this village. Canus the beloved dog of Orion the celestial hunter falls from the sky, the summer star Sirius stuck to his nose. He swoops with swallows as church bells ring. Pan shows up at the Cafe Neon....
For fifteen years these pointy-eared dogs, usually black and for reasons unknown, have frequented my art. Only as the final brushstrokes of these new paintings dried did I learn that Kinopiastes, the village I have chosen as my home, translates as the 'Dog Catchers'! Something, perhaps, begins to make sense. My new large painting became "We will play nice when we catch them, and sing!" and the theme was set for The Gallery's opening show. In my studio the pantheon of Greek mythology lines up alongside blank canvases awaiting their turn....
THE GALLERY, Kinopiastes
THE NEW SPACE
The Gallery, Kinopiastes, is a spacious contemporary art space in a lovely traditional village on the island of Corfu, just 8 km south of its historic capital Corfu Town.
Coming here to Greece it had not been my plan to open another gallery. Those years, I thought, were behind me in the Caribbean; I wanted only studio time, an Art Fair now and then. But two years of lockdown solitude can change anyone's mind. I had walked past this deserted space almost every day until finally, as the island came back to life, I decided it should too. And that it would be pink! "THE GALLERY, Kinopiastes" opened with a party on June 9th , warmly welcomed by the village. For these summer months it hosts exhibitions of my art. I will see how it evolves - and perhaps see you here?
