Lefteris Olympios travels with Renoir in new exhibition

Limassol’s art scene is set to flourish even more than usual as numerous exhibitions open this month. Several of them coincide with the Limassol Art Walks event on November 18, 19 and 20, a three-day occasion to showcase Limassol’s cultural endeavours. Travels with Renoir, an exhibition at Pylon Art & Culture is part of the artistic weekend, running from October 18 to December 28.

In the exhibition, Lefteris Olympios presents his new body of work – 26 ink drawings and 27 oil paintings that stand in conversation with portraits from French artist Pierre-Auguste Renoir’s Children series, which Olympios painted as a child.

 “I consider Renoir to be my first teacher in painting,” the artist says. “At the age of 10-11, I started copying with pencil and colour his works from a small book with children’s portraits that my father bought for me from the bookstore in our town. Not even knowing who he was, I used to read his French name, Renoir, as Renoyr.

“Now, many years later, and with decades of experience, I pick up Renoir again, not to copy him as I did as a child, but to make him my own. I keep the theme of each painting I chose to include in this series from my childhood booklet, adding my own personal style.”

The opening of the exhibition, curated by Catia Galatariotou, will be held next Friday from 5pm to 10pm and there will be special opening hours during the Limassol Art Walks weekend.

Travels with Renoir

Art exhibition by Lefteris Olympios. October 18-December 28. Pylon Art & Culture, Limassol. Opening night: 5pm-10pm. October 19: 11am-8pm. October 20: 11am-6pm. Thursday and Friday: 5pm-8pm and Saturday 11am-1pm. www.pylon-ac.org, www.limassolartwalks.com