What:

An exhibition of Contemporary art works by tutors of Cyprus College of Art at the University of Northampton Art Gallery. The exhibiting artists will be Peter Bird, Margarita Drosopoulou, Andreas Efstathiou, Sarah Hoskins, Alexandrous Michaelides, Roderick Newlands, Margaret Paraskos and Stass Paraskos.

Where:

University of Northampton Art Gallery, Boughton Green Rd, Northampton, NN2 7AL.

Opening:

Thursday 5th May 2011 5-8 pm. For further details please contact Suzanne Stenning- Curator of Northampton Art Gallery. 01604 893046 suzanne.stenning@northampton.ac.uk

About the exhibition:

Romantic Cyprus: Artists of the Cyprus College of Art, by Dr. Michael Paraskos.

For anyone who knew the Cyprus College of Art in the 1970's the words 'Romantic Cyprus' will immediately produce a nostalgic memory of a ubiquitous guide book to the island, called Romantic Cyprus, written by the American Cypriot bookseller Kevok Keshishian.

Back then, in the days before the rough guides and Lonely Planet, Romantic Cyprus was almost the only substantial guidebook to Cyprus, which was not really regarded as a significant tourist destination. But it was also a guidebook that was, in many ways, deeply romantic, rooted in a love for the island and a desire to show the visitor what a wonderful place Cyprus was to visit. Of course we do see that in guide books today, but it is often hard not to think that the reason the authors are being so gushing about one tourist attraction or another is that they want to sell more copies of their book. You do not often get a sense that they really love the place. And when it comes to the Rough and Lonely Planet guides the writers seem under instruction to pepper their texts with dismissive comments, sarcasm and sometimes downright abuse. Presumably the asumption is that this gives their books a greater sense of honesty.

Romantic Cyprus was not like that. It possessed a kind of innocence. This was not innocence in terms of lack of knowledge. Indeed, there are some very erudite sections to the book. Rather it was an innocence based on an extreme optimism. The first edition of Romantic Cyprus was published in 1964 during the period of British rule, and even then there were plenty of British colonists and native Cypriots who thought the future of Cyprus was rosy. There would be agricultural improvement, industrial development and tourism, and all of those things would lead to a golden future. Sadly the optimism was misplaced, but as a guiding spirit it remained in every edition of the book, even during the violent liberation struggle against British colonial rule in the 1950's, the civil war of the 1960's and even the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974. It was optimism in spite of experience, and that always has a charm even if it can sometimes be infuriating. It is the charm of romantic love, not in this case for a person, but for a place. It is a kind of geographical romantic love that is almost difficult to imagine in the modern world.

The exhibition Romantic Cyprus is part nostalgia for a book that featured so prominently in the early life of the Cyprus College of Art, and part homage to the spirit of Romantic Cyprus . At the College we have always encouraged students to engage with Cyprus, to get to know it and feel able to respond to the aesthetic experience of this place at this time through their work. This has led to a philosophical outlook that the best art, from any time or place , is always rooted in the spirit of that place, a sort of love affair with a genius loci. Or perhaps we should acknowledge the location of Cyprus in the Middle East and say it is a love affair with a genie, the genie of Cyprus. Either way, without that engagement with a place, art becomes flaccid, and no amount of justification that someone is painting 'from their imagination' can redeem it. Art can be imaginative, should be creative and can even cope with an excess of emotion or spirituality. But the most important element is that it always emerges from a direct physical and sensual engagement with the real world around us. To call the transformation of this experience into a work of art an act of love might seem sentimental, but love is not a synonym for sentimentality. It can be hard edged. And we can use the word love in this context, it does not seem too much of an extension to say that art emerges from a romantic engagement with the real world.

The artists in this exhibition, Peter Bird, Margarita Drosopoulou, Andreas Efstathiou, Sarah Hoskins, Alexandrous Michaelides, Roderick Newlands, Margaret Paraskos and Stass Paraskos, are all tutors at the Cyprus College of Art whose artworks subscribe to this principle. Like the College as a whole they come from different places, including Cyprus, England, Greece and Scotland. But while they are in Cyprus they seek to engage with the genie of our island. Each of them does this in their own way, as their sensory awareness of Cyprus passes through the alembic of their individual identities and experiences, producing very different kinds of work.

That spirit always underpinned the book Romantic Cyprus with the result it was not really a tourist guide written for people passing through the island in search of a short cut to information on the fashionable bars, the cheapest hotels or the sandiest beaches. It was simply a guide embedded in a love affair of a particular place at a particular time. And that, I would argue, is a description that fits equally with our tutors and our College.

http://www.artcyprus.org