Summer Cravings

About

While visualizing summer we think of freedom, escape, and tranquility. Though through the realities of this summer we have also experienced isolation, a basic need for human contact, and fear of the unknown. 

When thinking of Crete one associates the island with joyful thoughts; the blue-green hues in the clean waters of the Mediterranean Sea. Enjoying a cold beverage on the sand under the warm caress of the sun. Benefiting from the delicious street food around every corner. Breathing in the air in unspoiled nature; mountains where feral goats are also known as “kri-kri'' roam freely and harmoniously alongside humans. The fascinating history and engaging mythology. Thoughts of the hand sanitizers at every public entry point or the necessary but uncomfortable face masks fogging up our sunglasses are not the norms. 

Summer Cravings is a collection of artworks that embody the very quintessence of Crete in the summer of 2020, traditional aspirations, and modern struggles coexisting in controversy.

We witness this discord through Vicky Vakouli’s large scale drawing of a father playing in the water with his two young children, next to a video art installation of life in Berlin during the quarantine by Max Michel Thillaye. In the vibrant colors popping off the textured paintings of seasonal fruits by Lennart Grau next to a minimal candid figure of a woman lounging in the nude by Giorgos Taxidis. In the powerful psychedelic manipulated images of farm animals on wood by Valentina Murabito and a simple Taoist theory painting of tree bark welcoming the elements by Dijon Dajee. In the calm isolated ocean horizon by Karolin Schwab and a young African girl closing her eyes whilst taking a deep breath in nature by Justice Mukheli, standing across from an interracial couple intertwined in an emotional embrace by Myrto Papadaki. In the graphic paintings of Hercules in a mesh see-through top showing off his well-defined abs by Stamatis Theoharis next to a curvy candy-colored painted wood sculpture of Aphrodite by Daniele Fortuna.