At a time when works of art auctions hit great prices and millions of Euros pour down like rain, two galleries in Athens are selling original paintings at the affordable price of €70. This is not about the economic crisis but about Cheap Art – an exhibition, for which artists create special small works of art, so that they can attract more visitors.
The works of art cost €70 only during the exhibition and after that their price increases to €150-€200, explained Angeliki Antonopoulou from a. antonopoulou. Art, who presents half of the works of art every year. Good art does not have to be expensive. For example “Karaiskakis’ Arrival in Faliro” by Volanaki was sold at an auction in London for over €2 million and I believe this is a very high price, notes Mrs. Antonopoulou.
For the last 15 years the Cheap Art exhibitions have created a fanatic audience in Athens and Thessaloniki. Statistics show that cheap paintings have taken over the market – until now 30 000 painting have been presented by 400 authors and annually the exhibition is visited by 4500-5000 people, out of whom 700-800 buy paintings.
Organizers share that the idea for cheap art has manages to refute two myths – that art is expensive and that it interests only a specific group of people. “In Greece we are afraid to use the word ‘cheap’ for things we don’t understand. We prefer to buy a chair for €5000 than paying €500 for the same chair, which we will find few blocks down the road. We believe that the more expensive thing is better,” says for Ta Nea newspaper Georgios Georgakopoulos, who is one of the organizers of the exhibition.
Several dozen people buy works of art at very high prices, so that they can brag between themselves who bought a more expensive painting and they can establish who is better off financially. The knowledge of the real value of the artwork or its price is not a criterion, notes Mr. Georgakopoulos.
It is clear that when prices are lower people can touch authentic artwork more easily. Of course, the €70 prices cannot last forever, because this is the price for the creation itself of the paitning, says painter Natasha Poulandza.
The idea for this exhibition comes along for the first time in Germany, when a company of about ten students from the Arts Academy in Braunschweig gather in their studios and exchange painting that they couldn’t sell. The ones, who did not want to give them out for free, sold them for 30, 50 and 100 Deutsche Marks. “The idea of this exchange continued throughout the following years and the company grew bigger,” says Giorgios Georgakopoulos. “Cheap Art was used for the first time in Athens in 1995, when we opened the studio in Exarhia and organized an exhibition. Our main goal was to attract as many people as we could, so that they can see the paintings.”
In short:
30 000 paintings have been sold for 15 years
4500-5000 visitors per year and 700-800 buyers
About 2000 works of art are presented each year
80% of them are sold
Where:
Cheap Art – Temistokleous Street and 25 Metaxa Street; tel.: 210 381 7517
a. Antonopoulou. Art – 20 Aristofanous Street, 4th floor; tel.: 210 321 4994 (from December 2 to 23)
Website: http://www.cheapart.gr
Exhibition opening: Tonight, December 1 at The Art Foundation (5 Normanou Street)
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