A group show of New York-based artists on view this summer on Mykonos marks an ambitious moment for what’s long been considered an opulent party town.
In 1988, some of the most influential young artists in New York — among them Jeff Koons, Ashley Bickerton, Haim Steinbach, Peter Halley and Meyer Vaisman — flew to Athens for the opening of the Deste Foundation for Contemporary Art’s seminal show “Cultural Geometry.” That exhibition was something of a flash point: as its curator Jeffrey Deitch recalls, it brought the international art community to Greece en masse, in what was, for many, their inaugural visit to the country. Now, just shy of 30 years later, a group of American artists is again descending on Greece. This time, though, it’s happening on the island of Mykonos, for a group show, “Greek Gotham,” at Marina Vranopoulou’s year-old space, Dio Horia. Opening July 29, and spread over 4,000 square feet, the show will bring together 16 of New York’s most of-the-moment artists — among them Nina Chanel Abney, KAWS and Erik Parker. It was conceived by the New York-based art consultant Maria Brito, who is taking on the role of curator for the first time.
While Mykonos is known as a tourist destination, Dio Horia — an art space with a residency program and a publishing arm — is putting the island, the most visited in the country, on the cultural map. “The art scene in Mykonos was a little weak, so Marina is a pioneer with her space,” Brito says. The Mykonos Biennale, launched in 2013, has livened up the art scene, and “Greek Gotham” is an important, and ambitious, aesthetic moment for Mykonos: It’s the first time that only New York City-based artists are being shown in Greece, Brito says. About half of them produced original work for the show, and a few — Taylor McKimens, Mira Dancy and Austin Lee — will come to Mykonos during its course.
