Introduction
The National Library of Greece presented an exhibition dedicated to the multifaceted artistic activity of Markos Kampanis from December 15, 2023, to February 18, 2024. Painting, printmaking, religious art, and books collaborate to unfold the personality of a versatile creator with an extensive range of production. The exhibition gathers works from the last three decades, organized into seven main thematic sections. However, it does not follow a chronological presentation logic; instead, it could be described as having a more “bidirectional” character, as it lacks a clear beginning and end, allowing old and new works to engage in a dialogue.
The digital exhibition “Markos Kampanis: Works 1990-2020” includes seven sections of works: Mount Athos, Archives, the series “365,” Ruins, Printmaking, Book Illustrations, and Trees. Additionally, the accompanying text provides a retrospective overview of the artist’s entire artistic journey, from his student years to the works featured in the exhibition.
“In today’s environment of religious painting, which is predominantly imitative, Markos Kampanis stands out precisely because he did not start as an iconographer but as a painter. The person who studies painting in London and admires Francis Bacon is brought into iconography through painting.”
(Stavros Zoumpoulakis, President of the Supervisory Board of the National Library of Greece, excerpt from his greeting in the exhibition catalogue)
Markos Kampanis
Markos Kampanis was born on 22 August 1955 in Athens.
He completed his school studies at Athens College and studied painting at Wimbledon School of Art and St. Martin’s School of Art in London, where he remained until 1980. In 1983 he lived in Florence painting landscapes and studying the museums of Italy.
He is involved with painting, engraving, book illustration, church iconography and, occasionally, set design and curating of exhibitions and books. He has executed murals in the monasteries of St. Catherine on Sinai, Iviron, Vatopaidi, Simonos Petra on Mt. Athos and in private chapels.
He is the curator of the Mount Athos Art Archives of Simonos Petra monastery, which deals with artists relating to Mount Athos, as well as with the history of Athonite engraving. He organized a printmaking workshop in Karyes on Mount Athos, where engravings for monasteries, institutions and museums are printed directly from the original 18th and 19th century plates, thus participating in the effort to study, preserve and promote mainly Mount Athos engravings.
He represented Greek art abroad, participating in the 15th Biennale of Alexandria in 1986. His first exhibition was held in 1979 at the Ora Artistic Cultural Centre in Athens, and he has had since more then 20 solo exhibitions in galleries, museums and institutions in Greece and abroad, including the Byzantine and Christian Museum, the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation, the Historical Archives of the Piraeus Bank Group Cultural Foundation, the French Institute of Thessaloniki, the Mount Athos Center, the Cambridge Museum of Classical Archaeology and elsewhere.
