Collective memory on show in new exhibition at Gloria Gallery

Following a joint exhibition titled Autobiographical in 2018 in Amsterdam, the work of Lefteris Olympios and Johannes van Vugt meets once more, this time at Gloria Gallery in Nicosia. The two artists present an exhibition that is set to open on Tuesday.

Olympios, a Cypriot artist who lives and works in Amsterdam, presents a large series of spontaneous drawings on paper in ink and tempera titled Does King Alexander live? It is a series about the mermaid, the mythical sister of Alexander the Great, seen from various angles. She is the mermaid who raises the storm and sinks the ships when she is told that her brother does not live, she is the mermaid Medusa with the snake hair and Pegasus, the pregnant mermaid, the Meluzini of the waters and the rivers, the Virgin Mary, the mermaid of Myrivilis.

van Vugt exhibits a series of small works of oil on canvas titled Snapshots. The Dutch artist has created his own archive by painting his pictures as if they were postcards from the past. The small and serial set up produce a cinematographic character. Some of the works are directly related to his own personal world while others indirectly through the use of other people’s photos. And that is what makes this series part of collective memory.

Lefteris Olympios and Johannes van Vugt

Joint exhibition between two artists. February 22-March 15. Gloria Gallery, Nicosia. Opening night: 7.30pm. Monday: 5.30pm – 8pm, Tuesday – Friday: 10.30am-12.45pm and 5.30pm – 8pm, Saturday 10.30am-12.45pm. Tel: 22-762605