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Art and Politics (1972-1979)
Kanakaki had her first solo exhibition at the Ora Artistic and Cultural Center from December 19, 1972, to January 7, 1973 – with 25 paintings executed with acrylic paints, brush, and airbrush. During that period many artists (e.g., Elias Dekoulakos) preferred the airbrush, a tool widely used in advertising. It’s use constituted a commentary on advertising and consumption in Western post-war societies. Kanakaki’s compositions, in a sharp realistic style, depicted people in corporate offices, machines from factories. She also painted works featuring vehicles (excavators, etc.) along with human figures (refugees, crowds, etc.). Her realistic painting was connected with the work of artists such as Dimitris Mytaras, Dimitris Perdikidis, Dimosthenis Skoulakis, and her peers who formed the group “New Greek Realists” in 1972 (Chronis Botsoglou, Yiannis Valavanidis, Kyriakos Katzourakis, Cleopatra Digka, Yiannis Psychopaidis). Kanakaki’s exhibition at Ora met with great success and established her as one of the most important representatives of political art during the Greek Junta period.
A political point of view remained evident in her work throughout the 1970s; even though Kanakaki settled in London in 1973. Her exhibitions in Athens, always at Ora, (in 1975, along with Chrysa Voudouroglou and Kyriakos Katzourakis, in 1977 with Voudouroglou, and in 1979 solo), continued in a similar spirit, featuring political works. However, the painter gradually moved from critical realism towards magical realism and surrealism.
