Meet the Australian artist who captured Greece's 'abandoned' beauty

Australian artist Max Grierson somewhere in Greece. Source: Maureen Grierson

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Australian artist Max Grierson has visited Greece frequently, Athens, the Aegean and Ionian Sea islands, and the mainland. There he created a series of drawings. Mr Grierson spoke to SBS Greek.

Since retiring, Max Grierson and his wife Maureen have travelled to Greece each year.

“And that obviously has been quite simulating", he told SBS Greek. He says that it is an environment that certainly encourages the visual field as much as anything else.

Mr Grierson has been involved in art and art education all his adult life and has had solo and group exhibitions.

"I spent 15 years as Head of Art at Caulfield Grammar School. Drawing and painting are my main art forms, and I am classified as a figurative artist.”

Makrygianni area, Athens. Source: Max Grierson

Mr Grierson’s interest in Greek mythology first appeared in an exhibition of drawings that he had a few years ago.

“It combined Greek mythology with contemporary fashion imagery which is quite a stretch when you think about it, but there is a lot of satire in the images.”

In 2018, when Mr Grierson was in Athens for three months, he began a series of drawings both of currently occupied and abandoned buildings within the Athenian urban area and on the islands.

“Some people thought I saw them as symbolic of Greece, but it was more about the regret of the loss of such architecture,” he told SBS Greek.

Agios Spyridon, Kardamili, Greece. Source: Max Grierson

“Some of these buildings are magnificent but not able to be maintained, they are falling into a really sad state of repair. I find them particularly interesting; they carry so much history”.

Mr Grierson, during the same period, travelled to Thessaloniki and on the islands of Hydra, Serifos, and Sifnos.

“I worked on architectural drawings there, images of the small villages on the island, citadels and castles. The light is beautiful and there are intense contrasts, I tried to capture the brilliance and the patterns, the patterned pathways, the high contrast of colour.”

Ancient Walls, Kastro, Sifnos. Source: Max Grierson

The series he is working on now, he began in Crete in 2019 and the work is based on Byzantine and Illuminated manuscripts.

“The Byzantine Museum of Athens is a favourite museum of mine and I have visited there many times. I was also inspired by the monasteries and the churches that are scattered everywhere in Greece; there you have a rich source of work both on the Greek islands as well as on the mainland.”

Mani church, Peloponnese, Laconia, Greece. Source: Max Grierson

Naturally, future travel to Greece has been postponed so Mr Grierson is working in his home studio and like a lot of other artists has put his gallery online.

“Unfortunately, there will be no Greek visit soon but hopefully I will get the chance to return and to continue with the work that’s stimulated by the environment and the light of Greece.”

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