Josh Garrick and Friends to Celebrate 1st Anniversary at Henao Contemporary Art Center in Orlando with Public Opening on October 1, 2016 

After making history as the first non-Greek Artist in history to exhibit in the National Archaeological Museum of Greece, Orlando’s fine art photographer Josh Garrick will open an exhibit of new works at the HENAO Contemporary Center, the Art Gallery that ‘opened’ with Garrick’s work one year ago. The new exhibit -- titled “Classicism from Two Continents,” will include new works along with a Tribute to Iris Kritikou, the distinguished European Curator who has championed Garrick’s work for three years – beginning with the history-making exhibit at Greece’s world-famous Archaeological Museum. 

The much-honored Iris Kritikou will attend the Opening Night (open to the Public) on October 1, 2016. As one of Europe’s leading Curators of Fine Art, Iris Kritikou is responsible not only for the record-breaking exhibit of Garrick’s work Seeking the Ancient Kallos, which opened in Athens on September 12, 2013, but also for the six European Museum exhibits of Garrick’s work that have taken place over the past 3 years. Seeking the Ancient Kallos made history in a series of ‘Firsts’ in 2013 as Garrick’s exhibit was the FIRST in the 150-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 

Tragedy Tomorrow, Comedy Tonight

About Seeking the Ancient Kallos:
Seeking the Ancient Kallos was a ‘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. Sent to Turkey from Greece as part of the “peace process” between the two nations, the exhibit hit an unexpected chord with the Turkish people, whose interest caused the exhibit to be extended twice in Turkey. Since then the exhibit has opened in Brussels, Belgium; been exhibited at the Greek Consulate in New York City, and ‘opened’ a New Arts Center on the island of Santorini in Greece.  

About Classicism from Two Continents:
For his One-Year Anniversary exhibit at the Henao Contemporary Center and Gallery at 5601 Edgewater Road in Orlando, Garrick and Henao Center Director Jose Henao will present:  

•    A tribute to Iris Kritikou as “Honorary Curator” by re-creating the exhibit she curated at the Hydra (Greece) Museum of Art (May 2016), which presented Garrick’s works on the walls of the Museum with 13 Greek sculptors presenting works which “spoke” to the works on the walls. Two of those Greek Artists – Stelios Panagiotopoulos and Marios Voutsinas – will be among the Artists at the Henao Center. They will be joined by Orlando Artists John Baker, Mindi Colton, Marsha DeBroske, Peter Forster, and Richard Munster (list in formation).  

•    Garrick will show a few iconic pieces from the original Archaeological Museum exhibit, but the “Two Continents” concept will come from a photo shoot Garrick did in Washington D.C., a city created by our Founding Fathers to ‘re-create’ and pay homage to the Classical Period of ancient Athens. Some titles will even challenge the viewer to determine if he/she is looking at an ancient monument from Greece or a unique view of a monument in Washington D.C. 

•    Additional interest will come from new works Garrick created through unique access to the blockbuster exhibit of ‘Pompeii’ which he photographed while it set attendance records at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto beginning in June 2015. Completely buried under volcanic ash, the once-thriving city of Pompeii completely vanished from sight and remained buried for 1,700 years until the mid-1700’s when archaeologists uncovered the city frozen in time. Garrick photographed over 200 objects excavated from the ancient site including gold, silver, mosaics, jewelery, statuary and body casts that tell the tragic story of Pompeii. 

•    Other new work will derive from Garrick’s July 2016 sail up the Danube to the fabled cities of Bucharest, Pecs, Belgrade, Budapest, Prague and Dresden where he sought out treasures from the Classical Period in the museums of those cities. Including seldom seen works from the “Brandenburg Collection” of Friedrich Wilhelm I (1620 to  1688), the uniqueness of these works speaks to the universal influence of the Classical Artists. 

Voyeur

With an educated idealism and a sincere love for his subject, J. Joshua Garrick captures unexpected views of Classical 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 enhanced photography forms a sculpture gallery – his personal view of often unseen details of the sculptures. Critics agree the work reminds viewers that these statues were once living, breathing people. Garrick’s photographs “see” this Classical beauty with an eye developed over decades of photographing the museums and monuments of Greece. 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 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 world.”

Future Nonexistent

All photos courtesy and copyright J. Josh Garrick