THE Gianoulis Halepas, the ascetic form of Greek sculpture that some called it “Rodin of Greece” and some others “holy, crazy and cursed artist”, meets the directorial gaze of Argyros Chiotis and the writing of The Boy in her play “Halepas” Roof of the Onassis Foundation.
The life and work of the sculptor Gianoulis Halepas become a contemporary musical tragedy, a dreamy narrative about the man who was crushed in his youth and reborn creatively in his full maturity. The Roof is transformed for the needs of the show “Halepas”: real trees sprout on the stage, between the seats and on all levels of the Main Stage, where the wild nature of a unique creator is celebrated, from 10 to 27 February.
From his birth in the Tower of Tinos in the marbles and dusts of the ancestral laboratory to the legendary Sleeping in the AIN Cemetery. And from the collapse, the psychiatric confinement and the long-term isolation in the mountains of the island to the spiritual awakening and the rapid revival that established him in his old age. “The young (old) Halepas surpassed the old (young)” he said.
Through the senses of the dream, Argyro Chioti walks the inaccessible path of the sculptor, between silence and the absurd, inertia and creation, delivering a contemporary musical tragedy in libretto by The Boy, music by Jan Van, Efi stage Birba and with an excellent group of performers. Simos Kakalas and Antonis Myriagos in the roles of the artist and his shadow, his satirist and demon, and Hara Kotsali, George Nikopoulos, Dimitris Sotiriou, Argyro Chioti and Georgina Chryskioti in key roles in his life.
The habitat of “Halepa”, a peculiar greenhouse with scattered trees that extends inside and outside the stage, disrupts the room, creating a natural cypress tree – which will be transplanted after the performances in various parks in Athens. And all in a sound landscape dominated by the wind of Tinos, the roar and the sound of the carving of marbles, pinned in the mind of Halepa, to awaken our nightmares and dreams.
“What is a mental breakdown today? “How many people around us – even in the Covid pandemic – can not manage ‘normalcy’?” Chioti wonders. “You see the life of Halepa: everything hung on a thread. And you see it in your life, what it means to be in a weak moment and what it means to have someone say to you: “Come, you can” “.
Parallel actions
A few days ago, on February 2, at 21:00, the short film “HALEPAS”, directed by The Boy and Argyros Chiotis, premiered on the Onassis Channel on YouTube. The film was made in the context of an artistic scholarship for research and development of the Onassis Foundation. During the research, the artistic group traveled to the wild enchanting landscape of the Cycladic island of Tinos, where they dived into the universe of the legendary artist, producing a first version of the libretto, the first scores and the short film, starring Simos Kakalas, Maria Cunning and Georgina Chryskioti.
At the same time, the Tellogleio Foundation of Arts of AUTh, in co-production with Onassis Culture, launches on February 18, 2022 the report: “Gianoulis Halepas: Give and Take”. The starting point of the large retrospective exhibition on the life and work of the artist (curated by Alexandra Goulaki-Voutyra, designed by Pavlos Thanopoulos) is the recent acquisition of an important set of sculptures and drawings by the Onassis Foundation – which make up the most complete collection and collection for life of Halepa, with creations of the first, the second and, mainly, the third period of his artistic production.
The exhibition will present more than 150 works (sculptures, drawings, stores), from the Onassis Foundation Collection and loans from other organizations, collectors and museums. The exhibition in Thessaloniki will last until Sunday, June 5, 2022. The accompanying bilingual edition that will be available in Stegi, Telloglio and bookstores is a production of the Onassis Foundation Publications Department, designed by the Grid Office.
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