INTERVIEW: Christos Christofis – dreamideamachine ART VIEW

I know and monitor Christos Christofis as a collector for many years since he is quite active in the art field and one of the few that is visiting the galleries with such a comfort. He is incredibly accessible and terribly communicative. But what really impressed me and still impresses me, in one hand is his great love and trust in young artists like itsmi (Alexandros), and on the other the spaces he is choosing to exhibit the artworks of his collection, mainly alternative. And of the other the choice of the spaces that each time decides to exhibit works from his collection, which are usually alternative. As he says in the interview that follows on the occasion of itsmi (Alexandros) exhibition in Kanaria, his favorite artistic Cafe in Kerameikos, is because he is interested to bring art in contact with a wider audience beyond the narrowly artistic.

By Efi Michalarou
Photo: Dimitris Lempesis & Christos Christofis Archive

Mr. Christofis, the exhibition ‘’Imagine Being Alive, Wow!’’, that you are curating with artworks from your Collection it is not the first, since if I am not mistaken, there had been preceded four others, mainly in alternative places. You are one of the few collectors, who is curating exhibitions and is writing texts. Thοse facts indicate a deep love for art. What does art, artists and their artworks mean to you?

The first presentation of artworks from my Collection took place in 2000 in Oinousses Island, my place of origin. Six other exhibitions followed, the last one in December 2020, in collaboration with Space52, an artist run space in Athens. In this last exhibition, the works were presented in a virtual way, in the form of mockups. A suggestion for a new “space” to read a Collection.

For me, art, my involvement with art, is a way of life. I have found my Ikigai, as the Japanese would say. What is worth living for, to have a happy life. Alexis Akrithakis had written “Art is the deep pain. Art is the deep love. Art is the laughter before death. Art is everyone of us with all the flaws and passions”. This definition of art suits me perfectly and perhaps explains my own relationship with the artists and the way I feel about them and their work.

In 1973 you acquired your first artwork, a watercolor by N.Nikolaidis, was it the provocation for you to start your Collection?

That is true. A watercolor by Nikos Nikolaidis, bought in 1973 for 500 drachmas from his studio on Αkadimias street. At that time, I was serving in the Greek Navy and spending 500 drachmas for that artwork, I couldn’t afford for two weekends to go out and spend any money with Irene, my later wife.

But my journey with art, started a few years later, in 1979 after my return to Athens from London, where I was working. I was systematically attending the exhibitions at the galleries in Athens and slowly I started buying artworks.

For your exhibitions you choose alternative spaces and not institutional which for a collector would be much more easier. What attracts you to alternative spaces and what do you expect from them?

It is true that, especially in recent years, I usually move “outside of the predetermined and conventional artistic environment”, as a friend of mine and journalist put it delicately. The choice of alternative spaces, for me, is a proposal for a different experience in looking to an artwork. Ιn parallel by using alternative spaces, I can target, I can appeal, also to people who hardly visit a Museum or a Public Gallery.

With many of the artists from whom you buy works, you connect with long-term friendships such as Tassos Mantzavinos, Michalis Madenis and many others, how does this come about?

My friends, almost all, are artists or people connected with art. I enjoy very much visiting their studios, I enjoy their company, I enjoy the long conversations with them about art and their work. Their friendship honors me, I consider it valuable, I seek it. Friendships with artists and personalities as Nikos Houliaras, Yorgos Lazongas, Kyriakos Mortarakos, Giannis Kastritsis, Tassos Mantzavinos, Michalis Manousakis, Tassos Misouras, Mantalina Psoma, but also with the younger as Emmanouil Bitsakis, Giannis Varelas, Dimitris Tataris, Elias Kafouros, Konstantinos Dregos, Stelios Karamanolis, George Kontis or Pavlos Tsakonas, can make you another human being, a better human being.

Keramikos-Metaxourgio, your favorite neighbourhoods for many years. Would you like to take us on a tour of the area through your own images, memories and findings?

I started visiting the area about 30 years ago. I made frequent visits to my good friend Michalis Madenis at his old studio on Konstantinoupoleos Street. Nikos Tziotis, who died so young, also lived nearby. Also, here lives Yorgos Lazongas and many more artists friends. I love this neighborhood which continues to be a place of my Sunday excursions.

I will start my “tour” from Michalis Madenis’ house, an old two-storey house, that has a wonderful marble staircase with the wooden handrail leading to the first floor, the painter’s studio, the comfortable high-ceilinged rooms, the paintings hanging on the walls, the painted white curtain on the street window, the wooden floors patinated by time, the strong smell of solvents, the clutter of the studio, and the trains, which pass just a few meters from the house and always make the windows creak.

My next stop is the home of Nikos Tziotis, the one with the inner courtyard and the orange trees in pots. Marble wall sculptures are leaning against the exterior walls, awaiting for the art-loving visitor. The purpose of the visit is to put freshly wet towels on his recent sculptures that are in the process of drying, so that they do not crackle. He was away but he had given clear instructions.

On the way to his house, I make a short stop on a neighboring plot. In the rubble from the excavation, I collect small pieces of ancient clay pots. Valuable findings that will be added to the existing ones. Tziotis was spending hours sifting through the soil in buildings under construction.

Kanaria Coffeehouse, another story, an old story, a personal and artistic hangout, that will host 21 artworks from your collection all by itsmi (Alexandros), a twenty-five-year-old artist, how did this idea come about and what does street art mean to you?

Kanaria, another story that continues. I wrote few months ago a number of short texts, all about dreams I have imagined, under the title “Yesterday’s Dream”. One of them refers to Kanaria and highlights the connection and the memories I have of the place. “I was drinking coffee at Kanaria together with Angelos Papadimitriou, Angelos Spartalis and Captain. Anna Michalitsianou also passed by and we learned news from Yorgos Lazongas. Manolis Bitsakis was painting in a nearby table. Only in the dreams and with these memories do I feel happy now “.

What does Street Art means to me? An authentic, fresh form of expression. It is provocative, it is a protest, it is revolutionary. It is a form of art that is addressed to everyone, to the passer-by. As for the area, Metaxourgio, is a traditional place of action for graffiti artists. Itsmi, Kanaria, Metaxourgio, all come full circle!

As we know, in Amsterdam there is a Museum dedicated to Streat Art also there is a corresponding gallery. In Greece we have many street artists, who have entered Collections, have collaborated with galleries, but have not yet conquered the space that belongs to them in the contemporary art scene. Why?

In Greece we have many and very good artists in the field of Graffiti and Street Art, with or without a degree. Most of them are already with the one foot in the street and the other in studios and galleries. Some of them are doing quite well in Greece and abroard. Art lovers all around the world are coming to Greece to admire their work. I believe that is a matter of time for the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) to include their artworks in its permanent collection.

Concluding our interview and after thanking you, I would like you to tell us what drew you in Alexandros’ work and how do you see his future in art?

Alexandros (itsmi) is a young visual artist that started as street artist and continued his studies in AKTO. What initially attracted me was his writing, recognizable and consistent from the beginning. I saw many of his artworks and drawings, his graduate exhibition and I got to know him. The most interesting in his work, for me, is the coexistence of image and text, often in equal roles. He is using words and phrases that accompany his artworks, written on the work or as a title. He is present in everyone of his works and often experiences different situations and emotions at the same time. For his solo exhibition, “Imagine Being Alive, Wow!”, I choose only drawings, all created in the last two years. Of course, predictions for the future course and development of such a young artist are not easy. I am glad that I met him and I have his works in my collection. I am tempted, however, to repeat what Art Historian George Milonas wrote in his recent article on the occasion of this exhibition: “If Itsmi is not the supernatural child of contemporary art, then he is a great hope”.

Thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to talk about the things I love.

Info: Kanaria Café, 88 Keramikou & Plataion str., Keramikos, Athens, Greece, Duration: 5/6-28/6/2021, Days & Hours: Daily 9:00-21:00

Download Greek version here.