Anastasios Gkekas brings ’Investment Opportunities’ to VOLKS gallery, Cyprus

Investment Opportunities is a new show at Cyprus' VOLKS warehouse
‘Investment Opportunities’ is a new show at Cyprus’ VOLKS warehouse, revealing the personal art collection of Office gallery founder Tassos A Gkekas.
(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

Nicosia, the capital of Cyprus and the last divided capital of the world, is a place where two opposing communities, Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots, co-exist, separated by a buffer zone. A contemporary art gallery located on the edge of the old town centre, tellingly named The Office, plays on that paradox of the simultaneous purposes of locations.

Founded in 2009 by Tassos A Gkekas, a new exhibition takes the Greek gallery owner’s personal collection to VOLKS, a former Volkswagen warehouse, to stage ‘Investment Opportunities’. A similar riff on that contradictory theme, it presents works of contemporary art that Gkekas has collected over the years, with ‘no intention to display them’. Some pieces were gifted to Gkekas, some he acquired himself, having ‘built a special relationship with the work’.

The work is liberally spread out across VOLKS’ stark grey concrete space. There’s work by Francesca Woodman, the precocious photographer who took her own life at the age of 22 (in a parallel with Gkekas’ intuitive collecting, she did not plan to become a successful artist). Robert Montgomery, too, doesn’t much care for the personality cult that often surrounds great artists, but he’s become widely known for his works’ poetic, melancholy messages – shown at VOLKS in the form of typographic prints.

The unveiling of ‘Investment Opportunities’ is deeply personal. Most pieces were acquired as a result of Gkekas’ instinctive response to difficult life experiences. Even the politically charged art, like Glavkos Koumides’, Homage to Cy Twombly or Nazgol Ansarinia’s intricate prints made of collaged Arabic newspaper fragments, represent to Gkekas a childhood nostalgia and art’s capacity to salvage and aestheticise the negative (respectively).

The inclusion of Dimitris Merantzas – a Greek artist whose installation work is widely varied in terms of medium and material – is similarly meaningful, calling forth an intangible reaction, because, Gkekas raves, it’s ‘not like anything else I’ve ever seen’.

A wooden installation by Koumides, Iota Daseia, is paired with a Woodman photograph – itself juxtaposed with a famous Masahisa Fukase raven – evoking formal connotations that suggest a subconscious connection between all of Gkekas’ acquisitions. His collection shows the many ways art punctuates life, takes pain and political strife, and then transforms it into a thing of beauty.

Investment Opportunities, by Cali Thornhill Dewitt, 2015

Investment Opportunities, by Cali Thornhill Dewitt, 2015

(Image credit: press)

It presents works of contemporary art that Gkekas has collected over the years

It presents works of contemporary art that Gkekas has collected over the years, with ‘no intention to display them’; some pieces were gifted to Gkekas, some he acquired himself, having ‘built a special relationship with the work’.

(Image credit: press)

Garlands of Civilization, by Robert Montgomery, 2012

Robert Montgomery doesn’t much care for the personality cult that often surrounds great artists, but he’s become widely known for his works’ poetic, melancholy messages – shown at VOLKS in the form of typographic prints. Pictured: Garlands of Civilization, by Robert Montgomery, 2012.

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

The work is liberally spread out across VOLKS’ stark grey concrete space

The work is liberally spread out across VOLKS’ stark grey concrete space

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

A juxtaposed array of Nicolas Panayi's Carthago delenda series, 2008

A juxtaposed array of Nicolas Panayi's Carthago delenda series, 2008.Courtesy of the Office gallery

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

Homage to Cy Twombly, by Glavkos Koumides, 2014

Homage to Cy Twombly, by Glavkos Koumides, 2014

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

Density II, by Charlotte Ballesteros, 2013

Density II, by Charlotte Ballesteros, 2013. 

(Image credit: Courtesy of the Office gallery)

Nazgol Ansarinia’s intricate prints of collaged Arabic newspaper fragments

Nazgol Ansarinia’s intricate prints of collaged Arabic newspaper fragments, represent, to Gkekas, art’s capacity to salvage and aestheticise the negative. Pictured: Reflections/Refractions, Minimum Social Security Pensions Will Rise to ٣٠٠ Dollars – Mortazavi / Minimum Pension 300 Dollars – Social Security, by Nazgol Ansarinia, 2012

(Image credit: press)

Installation shot of Nazgol Ansarinia's Private Assortment Series

Installation shot of Nazgol Ansarinia's Private Assortment Series: Metal Chair, 2013 (left) and Paranoid, by Carol Christian Poell, 2007 (right).

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

Private Assortment Series: Metal Chair

Private Assortment Series: Metal Chair, by Nazgol Ansarinia, 2013

(Image credit: press)

Self-portrait, by Dimitris Merantzas, 2003

The inclusion of Dimitris Merantzas – a Greek artist whose installation work is widely varied in terms of medium and material – calls forth an intangible reaction, because, Gkekas raves, it’s ‘not like anything else I’ve ever seen’. Pictured: Self-portrait, by Dimitris Merantzas, 2003.

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

Star, by Dimitris Merantzas, 2004

Star, by Dimitris Merantzas, 2004

(Image credit: press)

Installation shot of Robert Montgomery's Garlands of Civilization

Installation shot of Robert Montgomery's Garlands of Civilization , 2012 (back left); God is Silence, 2012 (back right); and Trust, by Dimitris Merantzas, 2013 (front)

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

Erimo Cape, by Masahisa Fukase

Erimo Cape, by Masahisa Fukase, 1976 (from the series 'Solitude of Ravens').

(Image credit: Antonis Minas)

Tsugaru Chanel, by Masahisa Fukase, 1984

Tsugaru Chanel,  1984

(Image credit: Masahisa Fukase)

INFORMATION
’Investment Opportunities’ is on view until 13 October

ADDRESS

VOLKS
Warehouse 5.101
Charalampou Michail
Strovolos
Cyprus

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Siska Lyssens has contributed to Wallpaper* since 2014, covering design in all its forms – from interiors to architecture and fashion. Now living in the U.S. after spending almost a decade in London, the Belgian journalist puts her creative branding cap on for various clients when not contributing to Wallpaper* or T Magazine.