Working with a wide variety of materials and artistic media, Dimitrakopoulou explores various aspects of expression through art in order to shape her personal poetic and artistic language. Influenced by her studies in theatre and music, she seeks to combine visual arts with music and dramatic movement, to unite narrative and conceptual ideas into a whole with multiple meanings that move the senses and the act of thinking.
BIOGRAPHIE
Diploma
Venia Dimitrakopoulou was born in Athens where she lives and works.
The artist graduated from Pierce – The American College of Greece in 1983, and went on to study Theater at the Drama School of the Athens Conservatoire. She also attended sculpture classes at the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA) with Professor Theodoros Papagiannis, and further the drawing classes at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris (ENSBA) with Professor Daniel Lacomme.
Venia Dimitrakopoulou was born in Athens, Greece, in 1965. She learnt sculpture at the first Workshop of Sculpture in the Athens School of Fine Arts while studying theatre at the Athens Conservatoire Drama School. She has also attended drawing classes at the Atelier Vivant of the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts (ENSBA). She lives and works in Athens and on the island of Aegina. She is a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece (EETE).
She has presented her work in solo exhibitions and participated in group shows in Greece and abroad. Her work is located in public spaces as well as private collections in Greece and abroad.
In 2014, Venia Dimitrakopoulou. Promahones was published by Hatje Cantz, a publication that focuses on her large-scale sculpture Promahones, presented at the Benaki Museum in Athens during the winter of 2014-2015. Since 2016, this public sculpture has been installed in the garden of the National Archaeological Museum of Athens.
In recent years, she has been active in Italy with solo exhibitions and participating in well known art events. In November 2015, she presented her artistic activity and work in Venice, to the students of the University Ca’ Foscari, in the context of Biennale Sessions of the Venice Biennale 2015 and in collaboration with Fondo Ambiente Italiano (FAI) Sezione giovani di Venezia and the Hellenic Foundation of Culture in Italy. The two meetings, entitled “Images of Contemporary Greece in Venice” and “Interview by Giorgia Florio of Venia Dimitrakopoulou”, curated by Caterina Carpinato, were realized in collaboration with the University Ca’ Foscari, Venice, and Artespressione Gallery in Milan.
In 2016, one of her drawings was selected to become the cover of the revised publication of Mario Vitti’s History of Modern Greek Literature (Cafoscarina publications, Venice). In the April of the same year, she had her first personal show in Italy, at Artespressione Gallery (curated by Charis Kanellopoulou and Matteo Pacini).
Ιn January 2017, the president of the Italian Republic, Sergio Mattarella made her a Cavaliere of the Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, “in recognition of her contribution, through her artistic work, to creating bonds with Italy, a country with which she feels deeply connected”.
She participates in the working group, “Tempo Forte”, a cultural initiative of the ambassador of Italy in Greece that promotes cultural dialogue and the establishment at an intergovernmental level of common aspects of the identity of the two countries. As part of this programme, Venia Dimitrakopoulou will present a series of personal exhibitions entitled “Primordial Future” in Palermo, Turin and Trieste, from November 2018 till June 2019.
Exhibitions
2018
“Archeology of Timelessness”, ΑΝΤΙ Art Gallery, Antiparos, Greece.
2016
“Selected works”, Artespressione Gallery, Milan, Greece.
“On Guard II”, Eynardeion, Aegina, Greece.
2014-2015
“Promahones”, a sculptural installation, Benaki Museum, Pireos st. Annexe, Athens, Greece.
2011
“Mapping Oneself”, Athens Art Gallery and Blue Building in Exharcheia, Athens, Greece.
2009
“Conquered Territories of Mneme and Cosmos”, Athens Art Gallery, Athens, Greece.
“Faces from the Volcano”, Atrium of the Athens Hilton Hotel, Athens, Greece.
Group exhibitions (selection)
2018
“Black in White”, Historical Archive of the Cultural Section of Pireos Bank, in the framework of Athens 2018-World Book Capital, Athens, Greece.
“Wopart”, Work on Paper Art Fair, Centro Esposizioni, Technochoros Gallery, Lugano, Switzerland.
“Don’t Judge a Cover by its Artist”, The Art Foundation (TAF), Athens, Greece.
2017
“Artists in Athens – City of Crisis”, Rosa Luxemburg Foundation (Berlin) and Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, Athens, Greece.
2015
Participation in the Greek collection of the programme “Imago Mundi” of Luciano Benetton Collection, Italy.
“Art Dovecotes”, in collaboration with the platform of art and culture Aegeanale, Diles and Rinies, Tinos, Greece.
2013
“1st Mykonos Biennale”, Ciné Manto, Mykonos, Greece.
2012-2013
“The Art of Bookbinding: From Byzantium to Contemporary Artistic Creation”, Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens, Greece.
“The Other Greece”, a benefit exhibition to support education and art. Kouros Gallery New York, NY. Fulbright Foundation Greece.
2010
“Open Spaces”, 11 artistic interventions in the town of Aegina, Greece.
“Leases of Art”, Park of Nea Smyrni, Athens, Greece.
“Ceramic Symposium”, Aegina Archaeological Museum, Aegina island, Greece.
“Marathon – 2,500 years”, European Cultural Centre of Delphi, Greece.
“Greek Artists’ Books: Contemporary Artworks & Editions”, Art-Athina, Athens, Greece.
2008
“Silent Dialogues: Portraits of Multimedia in the Passage of Time”, ACG Art Gallery, “American College of Greece”, Athens, Greece.
“Aegina of the Painters”, Cultural Organization of the Municipality of Aegina, Greece.