Rodi Constantoglou
Opening Saturday 30 November 2024 | 1-4pm
shuttle bus service from Athens
11am departure from The Benaki Museum - 1 Koubari str., Kolonaki
4pm departure from FOUGARO ARTCENTER
only with reservations at +30 6943 056 387
FOUGARO ARTCENTER is delighted to welcome an exhibition of the paintings of Rodi Constantoglou in BLUE2 space. Her work, using acrylic on paper or canvas, owes its distinctive style to the manner in which she exploits the contrasts between pure colours. Striking motifs reveal people, animals and landscapes, in her own very individualistic style.
Rodi Constantoglou acquired a rigorous grounding in drawing and the use of colour studying Fashion Design at the Parsons School of Design in New York and Fabric Design at St Martin’s School of Art in London. Her formative years as an artist coincided with the peak of Pop Art, a movement which brought radical change to both the figurative and applied arts. After a successful international career in Design, Rodi Constantoglou took over her parents’ business, the well-known Athens shop Mati, which specialised in traditional Greek handcrafts and popular art. Influences from her very varied creative experience come together in a unique manner in these works, radiant with colour and energy.
As Christina Darras, herself a figurative artist, observes: “Her experience with colour and the strength of her drawing is all too clear and transcends mere dexterity. Her painting both captures a moment in time and hints at our vulnerability within that moment and anchors those moments in colour with great assurance. There is not a single brush stroke out of place and her colours achieve a wonderful harmony, yet her work is neither descriptive nor austere. Quite the contrary: it is endowed with the fluidity of music as well as the immanence of a human presence, the sense of an eye that observes and a hand that paints. It is a statement of presence which says: yes, I am here, I breathe, I exist. Her work has the clarity of another, less digital time. It speaks to the spectator, in a language that is pure, emotional and inviolate, like music.”
visiting hours
Wednesday to Sunday
12 - 8 pm
admission free
more information
+30 27520 47300 | +30 210 8070 523 | art@fougaro.gr
Rodi Constantoglou
Born in Athens, she studied Fashion and Costume Design, Graphics, Textiles & Fashion Illustration at the Parsons School of Design in New York. With a scholarship from Parsons she went to St Martin’s School of Art in London, where she studied Illustration, Textiles and Graphics, at the same time working as a designer and illustrator for the tri-monthly magazine, Fashion Folio International.
On her return to Athens, she became director of purchasing for women’s clothing at Athénée - Tsitsopoulos Bros as well as designing clothes for the company. She worked for Lena Derou’s SORED magazine and did illustrations for the Sinanis company’s fashion advertising. She designed wallpaper for the Aegean company and took part in various interior design collaborations with the architectural firm, Dale Keller International in Athens, as well as projects like Porto Carras, the Karachi Hilton, Hilton Lahore and Damascus Sheraton. She has worked with Ted Bates advertising in Athens and as an illustrator with the Athenian magazine. She worked with Liberty’s of London in the Designer Room section and later took over her parents’ business Mati in the centre of Athens, which she still runs, as well as the small shop in Odos Athinas, which inspired Spiros Vasiliou to make the painting of the same name.
The decision to concentrate on her painting has been a recent one; throughout these many years of working as a designer, it was always hovering at the back of her mind. In 2023 she held her first individual exhibition Never Too Late at the genesis gallery, declaring with disarming frankness that it is never too late in life for someone to fulfil her dreams. Since then she has taken part in numerous group shows. This show at FOUGARO ARTCENTER is her second solo show.
