The exhibition Metzikoff. A World of Wonders is being presented at the Teloglion Foundation of Arts, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTH), in Thessaloniki, from 7 October 2026 to 31 January 2027.
The distinctive and unique career of the painter, costume designer and set designer Yannis Metzikoff is captured in this exhibition through a significant selection of his costumes and paintings.
The costumes mark his significant collaborations with the National Theatre (Volpone, Medea, Oedipus Rex, Prometheus Bound, The Birds, The Clouds, Thesmophoriazousae, The Madness of King George III), the Greek National Opera (Swan Lake, Fedora, Salome), the Athens Concert Hall (Ariadne auf Naxos, Macbeth, Celestina) and the National Theatre of Northern Greece (Electra, Samia), from 1987 onwards. Special mention is made of Nikos Kourkoulos, a man of the theatre, actor, film star and director of the National Theatre, who contributed decisively to the revitalization of the institution.
The exuberant, multifaceted and dynamic personality of Yannis Metzikoff, in parallel with his great career in the theatre, finds a direct and poetic expression in painting. In most of his works, executed in tempera, coloured pencil, pastel and ink on paper, the artist does not focus on the naturalistic rendering of textures or the illusion of space. Rather than the ever-changing visual reality, his subject becomes the fleeting states of the psyche.
The demands and specifications of the theatre are collective and differ from the usually solitary challenge posed by the blank surface of the canvas or paper. Costume design and painting, however, constitute closely related aspects of Metzikoff’s creative work, sharing as a common place the practice of drawing and the concept of transformation.
The exhibition features 43 theatrical costumes, approximately 600 accessories, masks and hats, as well as 140 paintings by Yannis Metzikoff.
