September 17, 2025 – November 2, 2025
The Breeder Feeder, Athens
Kostas Paniaras (1934–2014),who grew up in the seaside town of Kiato, was shaped by the constant presence of the sea: the horizon’s endless line and the image of women, family members or strangers, bathing in the local waters. In Kolymvitries (Female Bathers, 1997–1998), included in the exhibition Summer Nostalgia, these figures seem to move with the waves in a delicate, almost choreographed balance. At the same time, they transcend the everyday, taking on a mythological aura, becoming princesses like Europa or Leda, or recalling the emerging figure of Aphrodite rising from the sea, so that Paniaras’ bathers, whether kin or unknown passersby, inhabit both memory and myth.
“From memory, yes, and from nostalgia. They may be the girls we fell in love with in the summers in Kiato, or they may be Venus herself—born in Kiato instead of Cyprus or Cythera, why not? To me, a woman in a bathing suit in the sea is a rising Venus.”
– Kostas Paniaras
This body of work can be read as an answer to a recurring question throughout Paniaras’s career: did his deep connection with the landscapes of his homeland define his life and art? Over the decades, Paniaras moved fluidly across painting, sculpture, stage design, and installation, experimenting with a wide range of materials and techniques that positioned him as a pioneering, boundary-breaking figure of his time.
Almost three decades after their creation, the works in Summer Nostalgia invite us to project our own memories of summers past—private recollections that echo the universal pull of the sea.
Kostas Paniaras (Kiato, Corinth, 1934 – Athens, 2014) studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts under Yannis Moralis. In 1956 he moved to Paris, where he trained in lithography at the École des Beaux-Arts, studied painting with André Lhote, and explored mosaic and fresco with Gino Severini. That same year he presented his first solo exhibition in Athens, followed by a series of solo and group shows both in Greece and internationally.
In 1961 he held his first solo exhibition in New York at the Alexander Iolas Gallery, beginning a twenty-five-year collaboration with the legendary gallerist. He later participated in the Paris Biennale (1961) and the Tokyo Biennale (1964), as well as Art in America (1962, 1966). Major retrospectives of his work were organized at the Pierides Gallery (1984) and the Benaki Museum (2007).
Most recently, in March 2025, The Breeder hosted a solo exhibition of his work, Day and Night, Then Day Again, reaffirming the ongoing relevance of Paniaras’s practice.
