Papatheodorou-Valyrakis' retrospective exhibition in Syros

Almost every summer, in Ermoupoli, Syros, Greece, I visit the exhibitions held during Ermoupoleia, the annual cultural festival of Syros. Many of them are held in the Pinacotheque of Cyclades, hosted next to the old customs office building, at the Warehouses in the port of Ermoupoli, and honestly that's the main reason I love visiting the exhibitions so much! Last august I attended the retrospective exhibition of Mina Papatheodorou-Valyraki, a figure that always puzzled me. The subjects of her big-sized paintings, for the ones unfamiliar with her work, are machines, vehicles such as cars, race cars and ships, cranes, sport related subjects, etc, all portrayed in a dynamic powerful manner with flashy colours and thick black lines.

I love her car series

What did you think she might look like after seeing her paintings?

Through her paintings I imagined her strong-willed, wild, kinda angry in a 'feministic' way, full of energy bursting outwards. I imagined her controlling and needless of men, bossy and probably not that good-looking but impressive woman. A chubby short brown fuzzy haired feminist. Yeah. Except that she looks nothing like that at all! I was right about the impressive part at least. I feel her looks are so contrasting to her work! She could be Barbie's mother or aunt.

See more of her art and the artist herself here: http://www.minapapatheodorou.gr/

Part of the jet-set for a good old time, she looks like the kind of person that never was deprived of anything, and maybe that played a huge role in her artistic success. Nonetheless, her work captivates me, and even though it's often not in sync with my personal aesthetics, it doesn't fail to gain my respect. Jet-set, creme de la creme, through a beneficial marriage, young money madame or not, she's worth attention and her career proves she got it.

I love to go close up to her paintings and look how the paint is stuck on the canvas in thick specks. Artists that work with big quantities of material fascinate me, probably because I was never capable of something like that myself, not only because it costs a lot (lol) but also because it's not in my character to be that brave, especially with colour. I rather work in small details, than grand gestures.