ART ISLANDS:Hydra-Yannis Kottis

Yannis Kottis after his studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) and received a scholarship to continue his studies at the École Supérieure Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris. A cinematic setting is set up in each of his paintings! The landscapes he depicts are not static but have bright colors and an almost childlike innocence.

By Dimitris Lempesis
Photo: Yannis Kottis’ Archive

In his solo exhibition at the Municipal Market of Hydra, Yannis Kottis finds inspiration from the images that have been etched in his memory since he was a child. A lover of an era that has passed, but has now become part of our DNA as it is preserved in our memories Kottis invites us to retrieve these images stored in our mind and give them breath. As the artist said in an interview “I believe that the artist is neither a historian nor a journalist to convey reality. What is the benefit if I reproduce in my painting the drear environment that many people live? Art must be transcendental. To give a way out. There are clearly many dramatic works that are masterpieces, but my own art has a classic character and leads to light”. In the new series of works, the artist once again gives shape with to the vivid flowers that surround his subject, a donkey from his beloved Hydra, people who seem to be hovering, but also a group of children climbing in a series of columns and other images of nature, always in a phase of rebirth. The works of the exhibition have a nostalgic mood, since Yannis Kottis chooses to bring to his canvases the Greek nature in its various forms, the harmonious coexistence of humans, animals and plants kingdom is always the visible. This painting requires an independent creativity, which can only exist in the artist’s soul and as extension to his works.

Photo: Yannis Kottis, Painting, 2021, © & Courtesy the artist

Info: Municipal Market of Hydra, Hydra, Greece, Duration: 30/7-31/8/2021, Days & Hours: Daily 11:00-13:00 & 19:00-22:00