Voices: Marina Vranopoulou, Dio Horia, Mykonos and Athens
Marina Vranopoulou
Marina Vranopoulou is the owner of Dio Horia, based in Mykonos and Athens, Greece.
Marina Vranopoulou
What are some common themes in your program?
Paintings that explore the formal concerns of paint, tools and surfaces, women artists and artists from small cultural counties.
Who is the artist in your program that you have worked with the longest? How did that relationship begin?
Maja Djordjevic since the beginning. Discovered her by accident in a scouting trip in Belgrade.
Name a person in the art industry that you admire or look up to and why.
Dakis Joannou. His passion, ethos and strong connections with his art world friends are admirable.
What is the most important quality you look for in a patron of the gallery and your artists?
To support the new artists that are just beginning and do not have a collector base.
Dio Horia in Mykonos, Greece.
Tell us about one show you are excited to present in your gallery this spring.
Chris Akordalitis who is a young artist from Cyprus and Jason REVOK in his first exhibition in Greece.
What is a piece of advice you give to artists?
Be patient and generous.
Tell us about one artwork you love living with and why.
One of the first beaded canvases by Raul de Nieves that has a golden clock and reads Patience.
Tell us about an artwork you recently acquired and why.
Just collected the latest canvas of Hulda Guzman that embraces pointillism while celebrating Mother Nature in a very authentic and environmentally respectable way.
Dio Horia in Mykonos, Greece.
Tell us about why you decided to open a gallery.
I didn't actually. After I had my first kid I spent 3 months in Mykonos where my family owned a house. Spending so much time there for the firs time since my childhood I realized how much the island has changed thought the decades and decided to do one research exhibition about it. This exhibition became a commercial show and then a gallery.
What is your personal or professional motto?
Do What You Love. At your free time and ideally, at work too.
Why are you passionate about art?
I keep learning beyond the barriers that words provide.
How have you grown as a dealer over the years?
Started in 2015 with one group show and one residency show a year in Mykonos and now we do 13 exhibitions per year in two locations (Athens and Mykonos) as well as 4 international art fairs.
What are you busy working on right now?
Next group exhibition called Friends that combines Greek artists with international artists of their generation.
What is your favorite thing about your gallery space?
Mykonos location has the unique Cycladic light and the most traditional Aegean architecture.
Dio Horia in Athens, Greece.