Εορτασμός Ναυτικής Εβδομάδας

000736 Nikos Yialouris, Celebration for the Maritime Week, 1980, acrylic on paper, 70 × 83 cm

As the title indicates, this work depicts a view of the port of Chios during the celebrations of Maritime Week. Yialouris deliberately adopts a naïve style, hiding his academic training behind folk-inspired means of expression. His drawing is simple and restrained, with emphasis on contour. The colours are clean and unmixed, filling the clearly defined planes. Only the sea and the sky are painted in a free manner. Specifically, in the foreground—just behind a narrow strip of water—we see part of the quay of a small harbor. On the quay, there are chairs, along with Greek flags, a wooden kiosk between two lampposts decorated with palm leaves, and on the left, a small marble monument with a laurel wreath. A red boat, moored at the far right, seems slightly out of place. In the background, an island can be seen. The composition as a whole is marked by a somewhat surreal sensibility, intensified by the intentionally folk-like treatment of the subject.