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MARY CHRISTEA (Greece, Athens b. 1949 / act: Athens) |
Mary Christea was born on 21 March 1949 in Athens, Greece. She studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts - ASFA (1969-1973) painting with Lefteris Kanakakis, Yannis Moralis and Nikos Nikolaou, and mosaic under Irene Voila. She furthered her studies at the Staatliche Hochschule für Bildende Künste, Berlin (1973-1975) in painting with Raimund Girke, art history with Dr Walter Hesse, philosophy with Dr Heinz Wenzel, and literature with Dr Gurt Gruetzmacher. In 1987 her work reveals influences by Greek classical art, whereby she used the relief technique in her investigation of pictorial solutions to the problem of the relationship between the figure and its space. Subsequently she used the same technique in other artforms - drawing, construction, and photographic collage. In the period 1998-2000 she produced motor constructions, where the movement of the image plays the leading role. In the period 2000-2001 she produced videos (Perpetual Journey & Asymmetrical Circles) along her initial speculation concerning the behaviour of the figure and its relation to space, adopting new means of expression. In 2002 she produced Perpetual Journeys based on her previous videos, on the subject of the relation of women with their environment. In the period 2003-2004 she produces Frozen (three projections) on the theme of the imprints that memories leave on the body.Mary Christea has presented the following personal exhibitions: Athens Art Gallery, Athens (1987); Ekfrasis Gallery, Glyfada, Attiki (1989); De Profundis, Kreonidis Gallery, Athens (1992); Pterygoma, Kreonidis Gallery, Athens (1996); Perpetual Journeys, Batagianni Gallery, Athens (2003); and Blind Traces, Batagianni Gallery, Athens (2006). She has also taken part in the following group exhibitions: Women Painters and Engravers of the Mediterranean, Korgialenios School, Spetses (1986); Contemporary Greek Sculpture, Thessaloniki (1997); International Festival of Electronic Art: Video Brazil, São Paulo, Brazil (2001); Forum: Artistic Mobility in a Multi-Cultural Europe, Mylos, Thessaloniki (2001); Audio-Visual Festival: Strange Screen, Thessaloniki (2002); 322+1, Macedonian Museum of Modern Art, Thessaloniki (2003); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein - NBK, Berlin (2003); Athina by Art, Athens (2004); Blind Traces II, Action Field Kodra, Thessaloniki (2006); Trans-Mission, Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Lefktro, Peloponnese (2007); Indoors: Marigo Kassi, Vally Nomidou, Spyridoula Politi, Mary Christea, 34 Karneadou Street, Athens (2008); and Silent Dialogues: Multimedia Portraits Throughout Time, The American College of Greece, Athens (2008) . Artworks by Mary Christea are kept at the following institutions: The American College of Greece, Athens and Macedonian Museum of Modern Art, Thessaloniki.
Further to the above, Mary Christea has studied piano for several years at the National Music Academy of Athens with Nina Eristou. In the period 1990-1991 Mary Christea took lessons in acting, improvisation and kinesiology at the workshop of the Theater Tomi under the supervision of the actor and stage director Maria Panoutsou. In the period 1990-1999 she taught free drawing at the Plakas Art Center, Athens. She produced the stage design for the play A Sweet Woman by Fedor Dostoïevski, directed by Lena Filipova at the Ex Machina Theatre, Athens (2002). Mary Christea has illustrated the following books: Poetic Collection of Yiannis Aparthinos, Typoekdotiki, Athens (1979); Shady Source of Nikos Levendis, Estia, Athens (2002); Poetry 1971-2007 of Nikos Levendis, Indiktos, Athens (2008).
Mary Christea continues to live and work in Athens.
[Megakles Rogakos 03/2008]
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