Drawings by young artists
It is a hip exhibition with a punk, street culture aspect and a definite contemporary edge to it. «Panic Room» fills one of the rooms of the DESTE Contemporary Art Center at its new premises yet is so dense and so visually rich (120 works in all) that it can only be appreciated by a lengthy visit. «Panic Room» consists exclusively of drawings, all from the Dakis Joannou collection, most of them by emerging artists and particularly from the US. International curators Ali Subotnick, Jeffrey Deitch and Kathy Grayson, who helped shape Joannou’s collection of recently acquired drawings, have also had a part in the exhibition’s curatorial. The exhibition’s central work is by Assume Vivid Astro Focus (AVAF), a US-based group that operates like an artistic community and invites collaborative projects. Covered in black and white motifs, their work at the DESTE exhibition stands like a room within a room; it is a large compartment, the inside of which is filled with drawings by artists that have worked with the group. Among them, one will find the lovely drawings of Christiana Soulou, one of the three Greek artists represented in «Panic Room» – the other two are Yiannis Varelas and Georgia Sagri – and the only Greek artist who participated at the most recent Berlin Biennale. Although «Panic Room» includes works by European artists, the focus is on the American scene, particularly the art of San Francisco, California, and Rhode Island, which the exhibition’s curator considers to be two of the liveliest artistic centers in the US. Elliott Hundley from Rhode Island, New-York based Paul Chan, Jo Jackson and Chris Johanson, both from San Francisco, and Dave Muller, who participated in the latest Whitney Biennale, are some of the artists represented in «Panic Room.» The exhibition is the first to be held at the new premises of the DESTE Foundation since the large «Monument to Now» show back in 2004. In the future, the DESTE center plans to be more open to new ideas by young curators and hopes to play a more vital role in exploring Greek contemporary art. The Project Room – one of the exhibition halls on the new premises – will be open to such curatorial ideas while exhibitions from the Dakis Joannou collection will run in parallel. DESTE has also added a large, contemporary art library that will be open to the public. «Panic Room» at DESTE (11 Filellinon & Em. Pappa, Nea Ionia, 210.275.8490, www.deste.gr). Open on Fridays 4-8 p.m. and Saturdays 11 a.m. – 4 p.m.
