Asomaton Hotel: A contemporary art experience in a classic restored Mansion with pool and views of the Acropolis.
In the summer of 2019, I met the owners of the ASOMATON Hotel-a young, hip group of forward--thinking developers. As a Greek American living in New York City, I was fascinated by the idea of collaborating with my new Dot Pop art in an environment of such historic significance. The old mansion in the center of downtown Athens, had been at times also a carriage house, a place to shoe your horse and change your carriage wheel in the 19th Century. It was an interesting challenge, and I was invited to find a synergy between my art, and the careful restoration of this beautiful building. We all agreed that a very modern approach was needed to connect the old world with the new. I had just begun a series of portraits, Dot Pop portraits of celebrities with a highly dotted, pointillist surfaces. We decided to identify each room with a celebrity portrait, so the client could return to his Maria Callas room or her Marylin Monroe room, or the Jackie Onassis, room, etc. Each room carefully designed with the integrity of the artwork as the central focus piece, style over simple function, in a boutique Hotel.
All of this while bustling outside was downtown, historic Athens and the Acropolis a stone’s throw away.
The upper rooms of the Hotel had direct views of the Acropolis site, and as I have worked for 15 years on modern variations of the Parthenon-it was natural to place the Parthenon’s in those rooms. The result is a modern organism in an ancient space, classically restored in 21st century elegance. I am looking very much forward to visiting the ASOMATON project myself.
Philip Tsiaras
New York City
August 2020
ABOUT PHILIP TSIARAS
Philip Tsiaras is an international artist of Greek origin who lives and works in New York City. He has had more than 80 one-person exhibitions. He has been the recipient of many national prizes including: The American Academy Award for Poetry, the Thomas Watson Fellowship, two National Endowment Grants for the Arts (NEA), nomination for the Blickle Stiftung Photography Prize, Germany, Gold Medal Award “Civiltà dell’Acqua”, Venice, and Lifetime Cultural Achievement Award, the Alexandrion International Foundation, New York. His works are widely collected in prominent museums and private collections, including the Metropolitan Museum, New York. Twenty books and catalogues are attributed to his work.
Check more about Philip in his website http://tsiaras.com