Day One: The Venue

The historic Tobacco Factory, Art Venue, Athens

Central Athens Art Show

There’s something slightly surreal about seeing your paintings arrive in another country.

After months in the studio, three paintings have made the journey from the UK to Athens for Platforms Project — and today was the day I finally got to deliver them to the venue.

No glamorous artist moment here… just paintings, packaging, labels, frames and the slightly obsessive checking that everything has arrived safely. 😄

But then you walk into the venue.

And suddenly it feels real.

Curating a show with fifteen artists work is a challenge

Setting up at the venue

The stand with visiting artists

The space is already beginning to transform as artists from different countries bring their work together. Paintings are being unpacked, walls are being prepared and the atmosphere is shifting from an empty exhibition space into something much more exciting.

I love this stage.

The paintings still feel completely connected to my studio — I know every layer, every mark and every decision that went into them — but now they are about to become part of something much bigger.

For me, exhibiting internationally isn't simply about putting work on a wall in another country.

It's about taking the work out into the world.

Seeing it in a new environment. Meeting other artists. Discovering new conversations. And finding out what happens when paintings that began with my memories of landscape, travel and place are seen through someone else's eyes.

And, of course, Athens is not a bad place to be doing it.

The Acropolis is just around the corner, the city is buzzing and there are artists arriving from all over the world.

Tomorrow, the exhibition really begins.

Follow along — I'll be taking you behind the scenes as Platforms Project comes together.