Open Horizons

Creation is not the result of what we want to do. It is the result of the whole cosmic process….If one approaches it right, he can give it form….The only thing that prompts this kind of vision is love…I mean the whole love, eros and agape, the divine and human reconciled, as the Greeks knew it…. This is what I am trying to do, to reconcile man and the cosmos.*
Michael Lekakis, 1969

Open Horizons is an exhibition focusing on the historical phenomenon of diasporic identity as expressed by the work of five artists of Greek descent who lived and worked in the United States. It brings together twelve works of art from the collection of the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum, some of which are being brought out of storage to be shown to the public for the first time. The artists represented are George Constant (Giorgos Konstantinopoulos), Michael Lekakis, Theodoros Hios, Theodoros Stamos, and Athena Tacha.

The mass wave of emigration from the impoverished countries of the European South to America began at the dawn of the twentieth century and continued throughout the interwar years. The need to escape economic hardship and the aftermath of the Greek Civil War then gave rise to a fresh wave of emigration in the 1950s. Whether first-generation immigrants or children of immigrants, the artists featured in the exhibition were either born in America or eventually moved there in search of an environment more welcoming and receptive to their expressive, ideological, and material needs. Overcoming the challenges of assimilation by building networks of trust and mutual support, they studied at art academies, built professional careers, and traced their own distinct paths toward the achievement of a personal style. They formed artistic groups, taught at schools of fine arts, gradually earned the recognition of their peers, and distinguished themselves through the exceptional quality of their work. Their exceptional achievements helped shape post-war American avant-garde art and visual culture, heralding the transition from eclectic representation to abstraction, geometric art, monochromatic field painting, the ascendancy of Abstract Expressionism, contemporary biomorphic sculpture, and functional public art.

In their work, we discover the assimilation and transformation of primordial cultural memory, a deep engagement with the thematic richness of Greek tradition and mythology, and a renegotiation of European modernism. Their connection to the Greek landscape, its nature and built environment, continuously replenished their artistic experimentation and fostered their exploration of formal concerns: composition and structure, the penetration and reflection of light on surfaces, the boundlessness of the visual field, and the lived sense of place. This sustained process of renewal allowed the transmutation of the ineffable dimensions of a poetics of light and open horizons into a holistic understanding of the relationship between humanity and the cosmos.

Curatorial & General / Artistic Direction: Syrago Tsiara

Artist Biographies

George Z. Constant (Giorgos Konstantinopoulos) (1892–1978)

Born in Arachova, George Z. Constant emigrated to the United States in 1910, where he studied at Washington University in St. Louis and later at the Art Institute of Chicago. His style is defined by a ceaseless quest for balance between tradition and modern expression. The human figure and human relationships lie at the core of his practice. His work features robust figural groupings that acquire a structural character, coexisting within dense, almost architectural compositions of organic masonry. The figures are organized in strong geometric structures, featuring bold lines and solid planes of colour marked by a distinct roughness and material density, generating a sense of unity among the human form, nature, and the cosmos.

Michael Lekakis (1907–1987)

Born in New York, Michael Lekakis worked primarily in wood, a material he approached as a primordial and living organism – a vessel of memory and a field for the liberation of sculptural form. Harnessing the unique structure and grain of each trunk, he created biomorphic sculptures that evoke the unbreakable bond between human beings and the cosmos, giving his works titles often drawn from Greek: Nike, Eros, Psyche, Apotheosis.  His technique, which combined reverence for nature and organic matter with modern abstraction, engaged in direct dialogue with the Cubist and Surrealist traditions of European modernist sculpture, earning him international recognition. His work has been shown at MoMA (1963), the Whitney Museum of American Art (1973), and the National Gallery in Athens (1980).

Theodoros Hios (Theo Hios / Theodoros Chios) (1908/10-1999)

Born in Tripi, Laconia, Theodoros Hios was influenced by Cubism and Abstract Expressionism, with a later focus on geometric forms and circular or spiral compositions in vivid colour. A firm believer in the social mission of art, he often turned thematically to urban life and worked extensively in the reproductive arts. He taught for thirty years at the New School for Social Research in New York. In the 1980s, he created installations combining painting, drawing, prints, and photography. In his late period, his work heavily featured references to the Byzantine tradition of portraiture, alongside a renewed focus on landscape.

Theodoros Stamos (1922–1997)

Born in New York to Greek immigrant parents, Theodoros Stamos began his studies at the American Artists School first in sculpture, then in painting under the mentorship of Joseph Solman. From the 1940s onward, he established himself on the New York scene and became closely associated with artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, helping to shape the postwar American avant-garde. His early work featured biomorphic forms inspired by the shape and inner life of natural materials. He later transitioned toward more austere and reductive forms, producing works with an emphasis on unified colour surfaces, luminous fields, and gestural handling – an approach that confirmed his place as one of the pioneering figures of Abstract Expressionism. In 1975, he donated forty-five of his works to the National Gallery in Athens, which honoured his artistic legacy by organizing a major retrospective in 1997.

Athena Tacha (b. 1936)

Born in Larissa, Athena Tacha studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1954–1959) under Michael Tombros and completed her doctoral thesis in aesthetics and art history at the Sorbonne (1961-1963). That same year, she settled permanently in the United States. She has worked across a broad range of materials, including stone, brick, concrete, steel, water, plants, and LED lighting. In the early 1970s, she renounced the commercial dimension of art, committed herself to its social mission, and emerged as a pioneering figure in the development of urban, functional environmental sculpture. In collaboration with architects and urban planners, she designed and realized more than fifty public commissions for parks, public squares, fountains, and amphitheatres. From early in her career, her work integrated new conceptions of space, time, physical movement, and matter, with clear references to concepts of movement, rhythm, and the harmony of the cosmos. In parallel she undertook conceptual projects that foreground a searching gaze at nature and the systematic study of the human body. A retrospective of her work was held in Greece (Thessaloniki, Athens, and Larissa) in 2010.

*Peter Selz, “Modern Odysseys: A First Generation of Greek American Artists,” in Modern Odysseys. Greek American Artists of the 20th Century, Queens Museum of Art, New York 1999, p. 15.

Curator: Syrago Tsiara, General Director of the Nationa Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum

Tuesday, 30 June 2026

7:30 PM

Old Customs House (Palio Telonio), Nafplion

Exhibition on view: 30 June – 4 October 2026