Violated Beauty. Lefteris Olympios
Catalogue produced to accompany the exhibition by the cypriot artist Lefteris Olympios at the Domkerk Cathedral in the city of Utrecht in the Netherlands. The main body of work consisted of fourteen paintings 70 x 100 cm which were inspired by byzantine icons that once stood in various churches in the now occupied areas of Cyprus by Turkish troops. The paintings were hung on the main columns of the cathedral at the place were previously stood catholic statues which were destroyed during its conversion to a Protestant church. With this gesture Lefteris symbolically “restored” both the byzantine icons and catholic statues for the duration of the exhibition. The twelve paintings were accompanied by twelve smaller studies, photographs of destroyed churches by the turkish army, a house iconostasis and a painting of St. Martin, the patron saint of Domkerk. The cataloque starts with an essay by the dutch art historian Liesbeth A. de Jong and ends with an analysis of the meaning of the iconostasis in the orthodox church by the cypriot archaeologist and byzantinist Giorgos Philotheou. Between the two texts, the large paintings are paired with the icons on which the artist drew inspiration.