How touching to hear it Philip Tarlow talking about my acquaintance with Greece in the 60s, it’s so nice to see his new works, art that pulsates. After 13 years, Philip Tarlow again presents his work in Athens. Since then, he has moved on. He exhibits at the Genesis Gallery of Giorgos Tsaneris on Kharitos Street, where you can see his familiar and gentle approach to the neoclassical and pristine landscape of Andros, as well as his more abstract works, explorations of the concept of painting, as he says. The idea of ​​the painting goes beyond realism or abstraction.

He spoke to us a few days ago, with a group of friends in the gallery. His wonderful Greek gurgled. I watched him and thought of him as a young man in 1960s afterlife Greece, when his friendship with Yiannis Tsaruchis, Yiannis Moralis, Giorgos Manousakis tied him to this place. In the gallery Ora Asadur Bakharyan he became a part of this world. In an old issue of Zygos, Angelos Delivorias wrote about a painting by Philip Tarlow.

The father of director Dimitris Tarlow (from his marriage to Marina Karagatsy), Philip Tarlow has been living with his wife Michaela in Colorado for the last few years. The American landscape, he says, is just as cute (and maybe pristine, primitive). He likes to draw by the stream, listen to the music of the water. But here, in a Greek place, he always meets that light and that special element that marked him 50-60 years ago. At that time he lived in Greece for 15 years, painting.

Maybe now Athens has lost a bit of that atmosphere, as he says, but his tour of museums (National Gallery, Benaki), a performance at the Poreus Theater (directed by Dimitris Tarlow), walks in cloudy, but at the same time sunny Athens, inspired him for subsequent work.

He himself, as it were, is in a familiar, familiar place, deeply rooted in a meteoric state between places and ideas. In the exhibition, which will be open until April 1, you can see the beautiful handling of color and detail in his watercolors, as well as freer gestures on canvas in a series from the Tokyo Olympics (the sets and costumes touched him) or from works. carried out by the workshop at home. “There is something completely authentic and primal about workers,” he says. “I’ve always enjoyed drawing them.” This timeless handicraft element speaks to the timeless landscape of Andros, an island he has known well since ancient times. He has been painting neoclassical Chora (and also Athens) since he first came to Greece. This is Greece. In a light, rough, deeply touching manner. “These works were colored by the awareness of the place where they will be presented,” he says.

But Philip Tarlow does not miss yesterday at all. He clearly carries this legacy of friendship with the artists and intellectuals of the 60s. But his approach was and remains holistic. He draws from life and assimilates from the essence of all arts. I remember the sound and metal of his voice, his skillful hands, the smile that lights up his face. Greece in his painting became a conductor of light. His art is an exploration of color. Time becomes one. Life seems to be omnipotent.

On Thursday, March 23 at 20:00 Philip Tarlow will talk about art with Dimitris Tarlow at the Genesis Gallery.