The Drama Non-Profit Organization KYKLOPS and the Mount Athos Center of Thessaloniki, with the support of the Holy Metropolis of Drama, present the painting exhibition of George Taxidis entitled “Mount Athos. A Place of Silence.”
The exhibition will open on Friday, November 7, 2025, at 7:00 p.m., at the KYKLOPS Cultural Center (Marble Building, Agia Varvara Park, Drama).
The exhibition was presented at the Agioritiki Estia exhibition space from June 29 to October 11, 2025, and is the result of a long-term visual arts program organized by the institution in collaboration with visual artist Giorgos Taxidis, who made more than fifteen trips to the Athonite State between 2020 and 2025, visited all twenty monasteries, observed the monks’ daily routine, participated in religious ceremonies, conversed with them, and captured this experiential journey in 115 works using a variety of techniques: pencil, charcoal, oil, watercolor, as well as sculptures and engravings.
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalog of the same title, featuring all of Giorgos Taxidis’ works, as well as texts by art historian Yannis Bolis and David Ebony, former editor-in-chief of Art in America magazine and contributor to many leading art magazines in the US.
Yannis Bolis notes about Taxidis’ works: Giorgos Taxidis’ images open up to this world of silence and light, invoking a deeper, more meaningful communication, through pictorial values, through the pure gaze of an unadulterated and humble gaze, a gaze that reveals things as they are. Or as they should be: divine in their simplicity.
David Eboby writes, among other things: ”The artist recorded his experiences through visual media, creating over a hundred drawings, watercolors, and paintings during the program. At the same time, he kept a diary in which he vividly describes the natural environment, his personal impressions, and the psychological effect that this sacred place had on him. The artist’s life resembles that of a monk in many ways in terms of solitude, and in the environment of Mount Athos, Taxidis often found himself alone. During the pandemic, a special quiet prevailed in the monasteries, which was conducive to contemplation. For this reason, the artist gave this exhibition the title “Mount Athos. Place of Silence.”
Throughout the visual arts program, George Taxidis kept a diary, which is included in the exhibition catalog. In it, he records his unique experiential journey:
On Mount Athos, I let myself absorb what I saw without feeling pressured to paint what I had already mastered in the past. I came into conflict with my visual work in order to create something new, something I had never painted before. In a way, I thought that a monk and an artist, despite the distance that separates them, nevertheless walk parallel paths in their lives: all that inner struggle, the purpose of a lifetime, the dedication and devotion to their work. Each with their own patience and prayer in their own way. Above all, the achievement of a work in the most authentic way. “We too are searching for ‘the true light'” (Diary, June 4, 2021).
George Taxidis was born in 1987. He studied at the Department of Visual and Applied Arts of the School of Fine Arts of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (2010–2015), graduating with honors. He attended courses at the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Madrid (UCM, Facultad de Bellas Artes) through the Erasmus program (2013–2014). She completed her postgraduate studies with a scholarship at the New York Academy of Art (2017–2019) and has received a total of 12 scholarships (Fulbright Foundation, NEON Organization, Georgios Varkas Bequest, etc.). In 2012, he received praise from ELTA for the Europa 2012 stamp series, and in 2014, he won first prize in the Art and The City 5 competition in Athens. In 2018, his work was selected for the XL Catlin Art Prize competition, and in 2019, he was honored with an award from the Dahesh Museum of Art in New York. That same year, he taught design at the School of Fine Arts in Santo Domingo. He is the designer of the AMKE KYKLOPS award. He has presented six solo exhibitions and has participated in several group exhibitions in Greece and internationally. His works are in private collections in Greece and abroad.
Alongside the visual arts program, a documentary was created about the artist’s visits to Mount Athos, directed and edited by Nikos Anagnostopoulos, which will be screened at the exhibition.
Curator: Αnastasios Ntouros
Venue: KYKLOPS, Ag. Varbvaras Park, Drama, Τ. 2521047781
Duration: 07 November 2025 to 18 January 2026
Opening days and hours: Wednesday to Sunday: 11:00 – 14:00 & 18:00 – 21:00
During the exhibition, guided tours are available for schoolchildren, students, and organized groups. For more information, please call 2521047781.
Admission Free
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