The role and importance of private art spaces is underlined by the constant presence of those who persevere and carry on with respect and responsibility.

The Vogiatzoglou Gallery in Nea Ionia already has a history with an offer appreciated by art lovers. This year it completes 10 years of progress, and the anniversary is the occasion for an exhibition that honors what has gone before and promises what will follow.

Collector and animator Giorgos Vogiatzoglou has a charismatic personality and maintains the gallery as a small, alternative, flexible museum and space where great artists showcase their work, often in fruitful dialogue and helpful conversation. The space itself, large, modern, suggests good exhibition installations. And its history is rich in important exhibitions. He is associated with many good contemporary artists as well as artists who now belong to the visual history of the country.

The anniversary exhibition opens on Saturday, February 18 (18.00-22.00), and its idea is to present the “favorite works” of the collector, “which he has been collecting for years.” It selects 10 visual artists, which is a symbolic number for the anniversary, but also with a degree of difficulty in terms of selection. We will see the works of Konstantinos Parthenis, Thanasis Aparthi, Christos Kapralos, Yiannis Tsaruchis, Alekos Fazianos, Cleopatra Digkas, Eleni Moraitis, Tassos Mantsavinos, Emmanuel Bitsakis and Aleka Kirarinis. The edition was signed by collector Giorgos Vogiatzoglou and art historian Thanasis Moutsopoulos.

“Collections with works by just ten artists not only speak of a special love or eclectic kinship, but also create a narrative about some of the central issues that concern the collector,” said exhibition co-curator Thanasis Moutsopoulos. “We are certainly hearing calls for locality here like never before. The genealogy that seems impossible to exclude from the discussion is, of course, the so-called “Generation of 30s” and its claims. Giorgos Vogiatsoglu not only presents here two of its most prominent representatives, but also lays a thread that will unite the 30s with the 60s, and from there the 80s with the century through which we are just passing…

For the contemporary art scene, the operation of such a gallery in Nea Ionia represents an important proposal for cultural development. Gallery Voyatzoglou is located at Eleftheriou Venizelou 63. The exhibition will run until 27 May.