ITHACA REGAINED

GREEK ARTISTS IN NEW YORK

Chryssa

Untitled, 1963-64
Wood and plaster, 24 x 22 x 5 inches

Chryssa (born Chryssa Mavromichali) was born in 1933 and began painting as an adolescent. Upon the advice of an established art critic in Greece, her family sent her to study at the Academie de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris in 1953-54. At 21, she moved to New York to satisfy her curiosity of America and pursue its promise of freedom of expression.

Soon after her arrival, she discovered the neo-Byzantine world of Times Square. Its luminous mythology inherent in its giant glowing and blinking signs and letters fascinated Chryssa. The impact was overwhelming as she associated the dazzling imagery of the Square's neon signs to the art of Byzantium. The references she uses to indicate the breadth of her discovery are highly significant: "I saw Times Square with its light and letters, and I realized it was as beautiful and difficult as Japanese calligraphy ... In Times Square the sky is like the gold of Byzantine mosaics or icons." These signs were ultimately transformed by the artist into her own mysterious symbols and alphabetical elements expressing, as she put it, the "Homeric wisdom" of the signs.

In 1961, Chryssa had a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim Museum, coinciding with her introduction of neon in her sculpture. Since that pivotal moment in her career, she has continued to explore the visual interplay of mass communication and society.