After making history as the first non-Greek Artist in the World to exhibit in the National Archaeological Museum of Greece, Orlando’s own fine art photographer J. Joshua Garrick returns from a two year tour of Europe to OPEN the new HENAO Contemporary Center in Orlando. The exhibit, titled Seeking the Ancient Kallos in Europe, will OPEN the HENAO Center on October 10, 2015 under the title – Timeless: Past Present Future – two years after the history-making Opening in Athens on September 12, 2013. 

The Opening Night for the exhibit AND the new Henao Gallery space will be a fund-raiser for Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Central Florida. The 100 people who attend the Opening Night in Orlando will be the first Americans to see the exhibit, which has been written about and celebrated with a Proclamation by Mayor Buddy Dyer, but has so far only been seen in Europe. 

Sophocles Remembered

Curated by art historian Iris Kritikou and designed by Marios Voutsinas, the exhibit made history in a series of ‘Firsts’ on September 2013 as Garrick’s exhibit was the FIRST in the 125-year history of the National Archaeological Museum of Greece to:

• First – in the world – to be presented by a Non-Greek
• First to be presented by an American 
• First to be presented by a LIVING Artist  
• First ‘contemporary exhibit’ to be presented inside the Museum
• First photography exhibit 
• First work by a living Artist accepted into the permanent collection of the Museum 

Reveal

Seeking the Ancient Kallos was a huge ‘hit’ in Athens and was extended twice before moving to the Sismanoglio Megaron in Istanbul, Turkey, where it opened to the Public on January 31, 2014.  Again – in Turkey the exhibit broke ALL attendance records, including Largest Opening Night, Opening Weekend, Opening Week, Opening Month, etc. Sent to Turkey from Greece as part of the “peace process” between the two countries, the exhibit hit an unexpected chord with the Turkish people, whose interest caused the exhibit to be extended twice in Turkey.  

King of the Gods II

Since then the exhibit has opened in Brussels, Belgium; been celebrated at the Greek Consulate in New York City; and Opened a New Arts Center on the island of Santorini in Greece.  

NOW – coming ‘home’ to Orlando – the exhibit will OPEN the new Henao Contemporary Center and Gallery at 5601 Edgewater Road in Orlando on October 10, 2015.  It will remain on view in the new Gallery into January of 2016.  After the Opening Night, the exhibit will be free and open to the public at the Henao Contemporary Center.

About the Exhibition

With an educated idealism and a sincere love for his subject, J. Joshua Garrick captures unexpected angles of Greece’s sculptures and monuments in images that are then printed with an innovative laser technology on brushed aluminum. This technique gives the works an ‘enhanced dimensional depth.’ Garrick’s photos form a sculpture gallery – offering a very personal view of often unseen details of the sculptures. Critics agree the work reminds viewers that these statues were once living, breathing people. The exhibit speaks to Garrick’s desire to penetrate the raw materials of classical beauty with an eye developed over decades of photographing the Museums and Monuments of Greece. Garrick's works focus on details, with a philhellenic respect for the sophisticated creations of Greece’s ancient artists.  Garrick says, "I hope to remind people of the primary role of Greek culture as the cradle of Western art and, respectively, the inseparable relationship of modern Greece to Europe. That includes the very real wealth of history which Greece will always have to share with the rest of the world.”

Heavy Lifting

About Ronald McDonald House

Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Florida (RMHCCF) finds, creates and supports programs that directly improve the health and well-being of children and families. The primary program, the Ronald McDonald House®, provides a home away from home that offers comfort and care to families with children receiving treatment at local hospitals and medical facilities in Orlando. Since its inception in 1996, RMHCCF has served more than 22,000 families. For more information about the charity, please visit www.rmhorlando.org or call (407) 206-0957.

About J. Joshua Garrick

Fine art photographer, curator, lecturer, and syndicated arts writer Josh Garrick is an 18-year champion of the Central Florida arts community. 

Garrick’s love affair with Greece and its history led to 15 student trips to Greece as a professor at the prestigious School of Visual Arts in New York City. With a Master of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University in New York, Garrick’s life has been dedicated to capturing Greece’s treasures through his skilled photography and with permissions from the Greek government for unprecedented access to that country’s famed monuments and museums. This access included a photo-shoot in which he was allowed to climb the scaffolding around the Parthenon and take photographs from the roof of that sacred monument. 

Works by Josh Garrick have been featured in numerous magazines and museum exhibits, including Where Magazine, U&lc, New York Post, Popular Photography, BOCA Magazine, Photography New York, Star Ledger, Photo District News, Photo Design, Chronicle of Higher Education, the cover of Gallery Guide, the Wall St. Journal, the Winter Park Observer, Archaeology Magazine, Olympic Airways publications, and all of Athens’ 10 newspapers. 

Garrick has served as a panelist with the National Endowment for the Arts, New York State Council on the Arts, Massachusetts State Arts Council, The Florida State Cultural Institutions Program and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. He has served as an arts spokesperson before the U.S. Senate Arts Funding Commission.  Mr. Garrick has achieved his ‘footnote in history’ as the first non-Greek to present his Art at the National Archaeological Museum, one of the top 10 museums of the world. Garrick can be reached at 407-522-3906 or at joshgarrick9[at]gmail.com.

About the Henao Contemporary Art Center 

The HENAO Contemporary Art Center is an alternative space that serves as both an artist atelier, as well as a gallery/event space. The goal of the Center is to raise the level of artistic dialogue in Central Florida by creating a positive and infectious atmosphere with ART as its core motivator. “We know there's an artist in every one of us and we're here to help it thrive.”

“Through the innovative use of a ground-breaking technique, Josh Garrick re-introduces the works of classical Greek antiquity to a global audience. I feel certain that the love and respect reflected in the treasures he records will deeply move each and every visitor,” says Jose Henao, Director of the new Henao Contemporary Center. “Given my admiration for the work and for him personally, I am proud to host this exhibit as the first exhibit in the new Center. Josh and I share our pride in offering an Opening Night in which the works on exhibit will be for sale with a percentage of all sales benefiting Ronald McDonald House Charities® of Central Florida.”