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The warm beige of a stone courtyard, the mottled brown of a mature tree trunk, and the sun-kissed skin of an olive. To us, this sounds like the perfect composition for a restful afternoon abroad. For artist Eleni Psyllaki, this garden palette is where she likes to work – painting meditative forms that evoke both memories and dreams.
Born on the Greek island of Crete, Psyllaki worked in architecture and interior design (with a love of graphic design) for a decade before finding her artful vocation and opening Studio Paradissi in 2019.
As such, her paintings, and works on paper, feature linear sketching, intentional contours, and, above all, balance.
Psyllaki’s forms may appear as serene flat spaces on her canvases and wood panels, but they carry a profound depth. Her primary subject, the vessel, is a rich source of analogy. It can evoke images of an Amphorae, a vessel from ancient Greece used for wine, or simply a space to hold our musings. Whether they take the form of a historic ship or a contemporary vase, her eternal vessels have a marked entrance and exit – they are open-ended and a metaphor for a meeting of the divine and the terrestrial.
Psyllaki’s artistic journey has seen a meeting of minimalism, abstraction, and Mediterranean aesthetics – with a focus on texture and tonality. Her works create an immersive experience, wherever they end up. These captivating artworks have found their way into homes, galleries and guesthouses around the world – from Psyllaki’s hometown of Heraklion to the Hamptons, New York.
Most special, perhaps, is to see Studio Paradissi’s Doric-esque work hung on the Neoclassical walls of Monsieur Didot, an Athens design hotel. Its creators and custodians, Natalia Georgopoulou and Margarita Papaioannou, have created a community-minded space to show their collection of contemporary Greek paintings and prints, which, of course, includes an open-air terrace, where guests can collect their thoughts after a day of sightseeing – both in the hotel’s Kolonaki Quarter and its hallways.
Radical, sometimes political and always on the pulse of Athens’ ever-evolving art scene, The Breeder Gallery is housed in an old ice cream factory, redesigned by architect Aris Zambicos.
Antwerp is one of Europe's cultural hotbeds with historical landmarks and art institutions. And while Antwerp has plenty of those – we turn our focus on the smaller-scale contemporary culture must-sees the Flemish city has to offer.
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Contemporary art continues to find its way into the Alpine villages of Engadin – surely, a reflection of the cosmopolitan and cultured crowd that seizes upon these rural locales each holiday season.
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With more than 9000 artworks, Vienna's Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, MUMOK for short, sits au courant against the vast MuseumQuartier designed by Ortner&Ortner Architects.
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Museion in Bolzano, Italy, strikes a standout cubic pose created in reflective aluminium over five floors. Home to the modern and contemporary art museum designed by architects Krüger Schuberth Vandreike.
Irene Fernández Arcas and Karla Hiraldo Voleau were the first artists in residence at the Parkhotel Mondschein in Bolzano, creating a visual canvas of sensuality, womanhood and culture.
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Hidden in a small street in Antwerp’s historical centre, where a convent used to be, gallerist Veerle Wenes founded a design gallery that’s known for exploring the fusion between art, design and architecture.
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With an extraordinarily creative mind, Rafael Bordalo Pinheiro (1846 – 1923), was known for taking his own approach which can be seen in this revealing museum which showcases his graphic arts, caricatures, ceramics, object design and decoration.
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Antwerp’s Royal Museum of Fine Art reopens – recreated by KAAN architects, the KMSKA holds over 8,400 art pieces dating back to the 14th century onwards.
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Lovers of Surrealism flock to Zürich's Kunsthaus until July for a first exhibition 'Gardens of Dreams' devoted to the Surrealist cooperation between Salvador Dalí and Alberto Giacometti.
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Founded as an art platform in 2018 by curator Marina Vranopoulou the objective was two-fold – to give a voice to emerging artists from peripheral countries historically connected to Greece, Greek history and culture.
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A sneak-peek into Spain's legendary surrealist artist, Joan Miró, and his hidden Mallorcan studio, watercolours, paintbrushes, et al.
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