Ante Akademos

This ink drawing depicts the forest with olive trees in the north-western outskirts of Athens where Plato founded his Academy of philosophy and used to teach. 'Ante Akademos' is part of a small series of drawings representing highly symbolic religious and/or cultural places in their original, untouched wilderness, before human presence and culture interfered in the dominion of nature. Due to their reduced dimensions, these miniature works invite us to a closer, more intimate view, and express the artist's desire to guide the viewer to a slower, deeper contemplation. Moreover, these natural landscapes present themselves as refined reflections on the seminal impact that culture has on the definition of territories.