In the current climate of economic crisis, Vlassis Caniaris’s historical installation In Praise (1993) is timelier than ever. A work of pivotal importance and unique in its style, it sheds light on the complex socio-political and economic situation in Greece. Constructed almost as a funereal monument, it exerts ideological and emotional pressure as a commentary on uncontrolled urbanization and the importance of preserving historical consciousness.
Presented at the artist’s retrospective at the National Gallery in Athens in 1999 and at Omonia Square as part of a project of the National Museum of Contemporary Art in 2011, the work consists of piles of vintage cement sacks wrapped with Greek flags.
With major international exhibitions and participation in the Greek Pavilion at the Venice Biennale (in 1964, 1988, and 2013) and Documenta 6 (1977), Caniaris is one of the pioneers of postwar art in Greece and a major influence in the emergence of a new artistic climate. In the 1960s and 1970s, he developed a distinctive style, experimenting with modes of expression that strayed from the mainstream, as well as an iconography that focused on socio-political themes.
