“The Alexandria Quartet” painted by Andreas Georgiadis based on the novel by L. Durrell CarobMill – Epimenides, Panormo Opening: Saturday 11 June 2016, 20:30 p.m. There are only as many realities as you care to imagine Pursewarden Epimenides Cultural Society of Panormo presents an exhibition by Greek artist Andreas Georgiadis entitled “The Alexandria Quartet” based on the novel by Lawrence Durrell. The exhibition is part of the 19th International Conference’s program “Threading the Labyrinth: Durrell, Greece, and World War II”, organized by International Lawrence Durrell Society, 26–30 June 2016 in Rethymnon, Crete, dedicated to famous British writer. The exhibition was presented for first time in Bibliotheca Alexandrina, last October, and was part of the celebrations to mark the 12th anniversary of the Opening of the Library. The artist received the major distinction of the “Key of City”, by Alexandria Governor. After Alexandria, the exhibition presented in Cairo, in the mamlook Palace AMIR TAZ, under the auspices of Egyptian Ministry of Culture. Third station was Greece, in IANOS ART GALLERY, under the auspices of British and Egyptian Embassies and fourth station was Hellenic Centre, London. Andreas Georgiadis, engrossed by Alexandria’s unique atmosphere and by the outstanding novel / outpouring by the British author, creates a visual arts account of moments, impressions and reminiscences, combining the real with the imaginary, the past with the presence, the literal with the metaphorical. After methodically researching a wealth of archival material, the artist recreates the 1940s era through his art, lingering on city landmarks that the author describes in the Quartet: theatres, cafés, beaches, restaurants, streets, squares, hotels, barber shops, houses, ports, railway stations, as well as snapshots of the leading figures in the novels. The Cecil Hotel, the Delices pastry shop, the Pastroudis café, Baudrot, the railway station, the western port, Rue Fouad, Rue des Soeurs, the Greek quarter, the Mohammed Ali Square, Police headquarters, the Al Attarine mosque, the vila Ambron -the house where Durrell lived in Alexandria-, the Arab quarter and, of course, the immense Corniche, all feature in the works in the exhibition, witnesses to the history of Alexandria during World War II, while simultaneously constituting a subjective people-based geography. Through the 33 works in this group, all ink on paper, A. Georgiadis creates a fragile poetic environment, dotted with multiple readings, full of interchanges between what is real and what is imaginary. In the introductory text, Andreas Georgiadis mentions: “I first read the Alexandria Quartet when I was twenty years old. I can still remember very vividly the riveting emotion of feeling that the world is (or may be) different. Lawrence Durrell’s reading of the world and of human relations engraved within me an altered anthropogeography. Twenty-two years old. I visit the city for the very first time. The reality was a revelation. Everyone and everything was there, untouched:
Συνέχεια … Painting Exhibition “Alexandria Quartet”
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