Horizons | Watercolor Exhibition by Foti Kllogjeri

Αrt space Alma Mater (62 Emmanouil Benaki St.,  Exarchia, Athens), in collaboration with Art Curator Paris Kapralos and the ARTgrID platform for the promotion of visual arts, presents the watercolor exhibition by Foti Kllogjeri titled “Horizons” in Athens.

Curatorial Note

The cities of Foti Kllogjeri appear like fleeting memories, like imprints of time emanating from the earth and water, while the sea remains the inevitable element that embraces and ensures their communication. The handling of light and tonal colors creates a sense of a dreamlike landscape dominated by the harmony and silent power of nature. Through his fluid compositions, new horizons emerge, extending beyond the material dimension and touching the notion of nostalgia and exploration. Within the framework of this exhibition, the viewer is invited to reflect on their place in the world and their connection to the horizons of existence, as they navigate images that allude to journeys both geographical and introspective. In Foti  Kllogjeri’s work, landscape—both natural and urban—acquires a new character, with gestural strokes imposed as the primary expressive mechanism. His watercolors reject strict realism, aligning with a broader trend in contemporary landscapes, where the landscape no longer serves as an accurate record but as a subjective, emotional experience. In the composition of his works, gesture serves as a mirror to the artist’s psychological state, capturing the fluidity and the perpetual becoming of the natural world.

–Paris Kapralos, Art Curator
October 2024, Athens

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Artist's Statement

In the “Horizons” exhibition, I attempt to capture the fluid nature of the city and landscape as living, evolving entities engaged in an ongoing dialogue with one another. Through my watercolors, light and the hues of water breathe life into architectural structures, traversed by the viewer’s gaze, revealing new ways of perceiving space. Each composition embodies the concept of transparency, where past and present merge, with lines becoming abstract, subtly suggesting the passage of time. The horizons I refer to are not necessarily geographical but symbolize the search for meaning, the inner dimensions of memory and identity. My gestural approach to landscape painting invites the viewer to surrender to the immediacy of color and texture, to lose themselves in the subtle suggestions of the image. I hope that through this journey, they will discover not only the cities and landscapes I paint but also their own personal horizons, those shaped by imagination and experience.

Exhibition with physical presentation of artworks in Athens

The exhibition runs from November 1-10, 2024, and is also available online via the platform ARTgrID for a duration of one month. On the last day of the physical exhibition in Athens, Sunday, November 10, 2024, at 19:30, a finissage is scheduled, including a guided tour and a dialogue between the curator and the painter with the art-loving audience. A catalog for the exhibition has been published in both Greek and English, available to all visitors for free. You can view and download it HERE. Hours / Days: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday from 19:00 to 22:00. On other days, the space is open by appointment only at 6972445353. Free admission. Instagram #fotikllogjeri

Brief biography of Foti Kllogjeri

Foti Kllogjeri is a painter. He was born in Albania in 1973, studied painting and applied arts at the Higher School of Fine Arts in Tirana, and has been living and working in Thessaloniki since 1996. He has exhibited his work in 7 solo exhibitions in Greece and has participated in over 70 exhibitions worldwide. His works are included in private collections. Foti Kllogjeri represents Greece (Country Leader) as a painter in the IWS (International Watercolor Society), he is the Head of the Albanian Visual Arts Delegation that participates annually in the Fabriano Symposium since 2017, he served as Vice President of SKETVE (Association of Visual Artists of Northern Greece) during the period 2019–2022, and has also collaborated with the visual artists’ collective ARC – Art Revisited Collective since May 2018. More details on his website HERE.

About the curator

Paris Kapralos is an Art Curator, Founder & Coordinator of the ARC – Art Revisited Collective, and co-editor of Arts & Antiques CCR. He was born in 1975 and grew up in Athens. From 2008 to 2022, he resided in Northern Greece. He studied Economics (Athens) and Graphic Arts (Staffordshire, England). He worked as a Journalist specializing in Technology topics for financial newspapers, magazines, and electronic news agencies (1999-2006), as an Organizational Manager and organizer of business conferences in the IT & Telecommunications sector, and changed his professional direction toward Art in 2011. Since 2018, he has worked as an independent Organizer and Curator of art exhibitions & events. He served as the representative of the Greek Chapter of the International Watercolor Society (IWS) from 2019-2022, and in October 2022, he assumed the position of Development Director at ARTgrID alongside his other activities. He has curated and organized over 200 exhibitions, art initiatives, projects, and participations in Greece and internationally. Detailed information is available on his website HERE.