Wilhelmina's Art Gallery
WILHELMINA’S ART GALLERY, HYDRA
Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery exhibits contemporary works by International artists on Hydra between June and October. The exhibitions are displayed inside a historic building on Mandraki Beach that was once the Captain’s Mansion. This year (2023) the artists displayed are vastly different but share in common supreme technical skill and treat subjects rooted in universal themes, particularly nature, myth, philosophy and dreams.
See: https://www.wilhelmina.gallery/about/WILHELMINA’S ART GALLERY, HYDRA
"ELEGIES FROM KYPSELI"
Artist: Romain Cadilhon
Opening: 9th September 2023, 19:00 - 21:30
Dates: 9 Sep - 28 Oct 2023, Hours: 11:00 - 23:00
Mandraki Bay, Hydra
On Saturday 9th September Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery will present its third and final show of the season, “Elegies From Kypseli”, a solo exhibition by the talented emerging artist Romain Cadilhon.
Born in France in 1984 he completed his studies at the prestigious ENSAV La Cambre in Brussels. With his exceptional technique and sensibility he has been exhibiting across continents from Germany, France and Belgium to Japan and Miami since 2011. He now lives and works in Athens.
Cadilhon has and continues to show his virtuosity through traditional drawing techniques. Initially he focused on black and white figurative works using charcoal and graphite on paper that were hyper detailed monochromes using rendered with photographic precision. In recent years he has turned to drawing in colour and moved away from figuration. The heavy realism has given way to poetic abstraction, lyricism and emotion. This latest series presented for the first time at Wilhelmina’s pushes the possibilities of colour on paper to new limits, transferring the concerns of abstract expressionism from paint on canvas to pencil on paper. Cadilhon will also be presenting these colour works on paper with delicate bamboo sculptures, highlighting the artists increasing tendency towards fragility, vulnerability and deceptive simplicity.
“Elegy From Kypseli” is ultimately a lament, an expression of nostalgia, longing and hope which the artist has produced with from the depths of his heart at his studio in Kypseli, Athens, and rendered in meticulous and infinite layers of colour. The works catch the eye and melt away lending itself to different interpretations according to the viewer’s state of mind at the time, but which begins and ends in beauty.”
Press Release
“Artivist” Barthélémy Toguo to visit Hydra
2nd September 2023, 19:00 - 21:30
Mandraki Bay, Hydra
Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery will host legendary international artist Barthélémy Toguo in presence of the Mayor of Hydra on 2nd September to close the exhibition “Life is a Dream."
Following the six-week exhibition “Life is a Dream,” a collaboration between Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery, Hydra, and the Nossbaum Reding Gallery, Luxembourg, on the Island of Hydra (Greece), featuring works by the world renowned Barthélémy Toguo, Damien Déroubaix and Manuel Ocampo, Toguo himself will close the exhibition on 2nd September in the presence of the Mayor of Hydra, George Koukoudakis.
Born in M’Balmayo, Cameroon in 1967, Barthélémy Toguo lives and works between Paris, France and Bandjoun, Cameroon.
Toguo’s achievements are prolific as an artist and philanthropist:
- Finalist for the Marcel Duchamps Prize 2016
- Numerous Biennales (including Venice, Sydney, Kochi)
- UNESCO Artist for Peace 2021
- Knight of the Order of Art and Literature (France)
- Founder of the non-profit art centre Bandjoun Station
- Exhibited Tate Modern, MoMA, Pompidou Centre, The Parkview Museum (Singapore), Studio Museum, Harlem
In 2022 the Louvre exhibited a giant installation of his work in its eponymous Pyramid, the Villa Merkel held a solo retrospective featuring his ceramic works.
Speaking from Hydra, Gallerist Wilhelmina von Blumenthal commented:
“It is not only the amount of Toguo’s achievements but the length and breadth of them across the arts in all media: watercolour, bronze, wood, photography, performance installation and, across his social engagement, pollution, migration, displacement, exile, racism, accessibility to art that is staggering.”
NOSSBAUM REDING
Nosbaum Reding gallery was founded in 2001 by Véronique Nosbaum and Alex Reding. Located in the historic centre of Luxembourg, it operates two separate yet adjacent exhibition spaces which allow for simultaneous presentations. Since its inception the gallery has been focussing on young artists from Luxembourg and neighbouring countries, shown alongside internationally established artists. With a strong emphasis on figurative and conceptual painting, its programme of exhibitions embraces a wide range of artistic practices including video, photography, sculpture- and installation-based media. Nosbaum Reding has always been keen to promote emerging artists by producing new work for their exhibitions and supporting them in their exploration of new ideas and concepts. Working from a strong local and regional base, the gallery continuously expands its reach by participating regularly in Europe's main art fairs and frequently collaborates with renowned galleries and museums.
See https://www.nosbaumreding.com
EXHIBITION: LIFE IS A DREAM: Barthélémy Toguo, Damien Deroubaix, Manuel Ocampo
29th July - 2nd September 2023
Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery presents Life is a Dream, the gallery’s second show on Hydra, in collaboration with the Nosbaum Reding gallery (Luxembourg) featuring works by the world class international artists Barthélémy Toguo of Cameroon, Damien Deroubaix of France and Manuel Ocampo of the Philippines.
Inspired by Calderon de la Barca’s Golden Age play Life is a Dream these three artists highlight in new ways ideas and motifs particularly rife in the imagination of artists during the Baroque period. They bring to life dreamlike and sometimes nightmarish visions of an invisible world which all have the same purpose: to warn against deception and remind of the need for people to keep an eye firmly on what matters in this fleeting world where we are actors for a very short time.
CONTACT: Wilhelmina von Blumenthal,
Tel +352 621 344884 wvonbl@gmail.com
Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery, Mandrake, Hydra, Greece Website : https://www.wilhelmina.gallery
"Life is a Dream"
Artists: Barthélémy Toguo, Damien Déroubaix and Manuel Ocampo
29th July – 2nd September 2023
Mandraki Bay, Hydra
Wilhelmina’s is excited to announce the gallery’s second show on Hydra in collaboration with the Nosbaum Reding gallery which will feature works by Barthélémy Toguo, Damien Déroubaix and Manuel Ocampo
Titled “Life is a Dream” inspired by the Golden Age play by Calderón de la Barca these three artists highlight in their own way the paradox that dreams and nightmares point to an invisible world more worthy of the terms “real” and “true” than the vanities we see on a daily basis. Once again it is the role of the artist to reveal the gap between what is and what appears to be.
Opening hours: 11:00 - 23:00 daily
Opening Reception: Saturday 29th July, 18:30 - 21:30
@ Mandraki Bay
(Under) Black Earth
Bea Bonafini
19th June – 20th July 2023
Mandraki Bay, Hydra
Wilhelmina’s Art Gallery is opening at Mandraki Bay with a solo exhibition by Bea Bonafini.
(Under) Black Earth will immerse the viewer in a dreamlike dance between genres, histories and mythologies. Her works have been described as “swirling scenarios that are fragmented and multi-layered, optimistic and tender.” The title of this exhibition, borrowed from Sappho, alludes elegantly to these qualities and more.
Bea Bonafini (born. 1990) is an Italian artist, based between London and Barcelona. She graduated from the Royal College of Art (London) in 2016 and has participated in international exhibitions and residencies. She is currently represented by the prestigious galleries Setareh (Berlin and Düsseldorf) and Renata Fabbri (Milan.)
(Under) Black Earth is an archaeological fantasy, a collection of fictional artifacts that point to the mythology of primeval worlds. Bonafini’s interest in these themes developed after visits to Mount Etna in Sicily and a residency at Alkinois in Athens in 2022. Works like Scissors Roman and Scissors Roman IV made from vulcan stoneware or Plinian Fire and and Alluvial named after volcanic eruptions highlight these connections. Bonafini’s work elevates traditional craftsmanship from carpet to painting on engraved cork through the intricacies of the material’s metamorphic qualities. The form and the content together allude to humankind’s aspirations, the fall, our fascination with the abyss and the need to make sense of the world through the making of art. This combination of rawness, fantasy and timelessness make Mandraki Bay on Hydra the perfect setting for this exhibition.
The show features three works made in collaboration with Electra Soutzoglou’s Art Rug Projects in Athens. This marks the historic return of the Soutzoglou family’s carpet making activities to Hydra, further highlighted by Bonafini’s residency at The Old Carpet Factory to explore carpet production and the Asia Minor diaspora on the island.
Contact Wilhelmina
Wilhelmina von Blumenthal
Location: Mandraki Bay, Hydra, 180 40
Mobile/WhatsApp: +352621344884