MOMus – Museum of Contemporary Art<\/b><\/p>\n
October 1, 2026 – January 31, 2027<\/b><\/p>\n
[\u2026] In the dream where I was walking, everything looked like unanswered questions at bus stops. When I wake up, I won\u2019t remember any of it. And yet, for many years, the truth was pounding in my heart. I just wanted to sleep, because it suited me. Perhaps that\u2019s why the best poems don\u2019t simply leave us with unanswered questions. They change the way we ask the questions. And that is already a form of knowledge, even if it isn\u2019t the ultimate truth.<\/p>\n
K.BHTA, July 2026<\/b><\/p>\n
Without Corners, Midsummer Impasse, Until You Come Back, Blue Tree: these are some of the titles of the paintings that K. BHTA is presenting to the public for the first time at MOMUS\u2013Museum of Contemporary Art, in the Case Studio space, as part of the exhibition \u201cOnly the Coastline Remains\u201d, from 1 October 2026 to 31 January 2027. The exhibition also serves as the opening event of the programme for the 61st Dimitria Festival organised by the Municipality of Thessaloniki.<\/p>\n
And whilst these titles may be read as titles of artworks, they also sound like lyrics. The title of the exhibition itself is a lyric. Their \u201cmelodies\u201d are conveyed in the paintings through the colours, frames, forms and elements that make up the works.<\/p>\n
Known to the public primarily as a musician and lyricist, K. BHTA has, from time to time, also pursued a parallel career in the visual arts. His connection with the visual arts began during his education, with studies in painting and art history in Melbourne, where he was born, and continues through his personal study and systematic artistic practice.<\/p>\n
Some twenty years after his first solo exhibition in 2005 at the Center of Contemporary Art \u2014 now MOMUS-Experimental Center for the Arts \u2014 K. BHTA returns to the city with a series of painterly, dreamlike images. The works in the exhibition date from 2019 to the present day and reveal a different, yet deeply related, aspect of his artistic practice.<\/p>\n
Drawing on Symbolism and the na\u00efve painters of the 20th century, K. BHTA creates a vividly coloured and personal universe. Within this, human solitude coexists with poetry and melancholy, yet also with a subtle, hidden optimism: the hope that people, even within an imaginary landscape, will one day come together.<\/p>\n
The mountains, trees, waters and sky depicted in the works do not refer to any specific geographical location. They are distorted, simplified and transformed in order to convey emotions such as isolation, anxiety, serenity, nostalgia or the fear of death.<\/p>\n
Solitary figures or groups of people \u2014 friends, lovers, siblings \u2014 are moving or standing still, observing and gazing. They are frozen in a still, timeless moment. The colours \u2014 pink, green, blue, purple, ochres, amongst others \u2014 appear in their most vivid yet most delicate forms. They do not conform to the realism of an actual landscape, but are freely chosen according to their emotional and thematic function. Thus, the place we see remains open-ended: we do not know whether it is real, imaginary, dreamlike or nightmarish.<\/p>\n
As viewers, we are called upon to make our own connections and to situate the images where they resonate with our own inner world. Perhaps this is also one of the most essential elements of contemporary visual art and, in particular, of K. BHTA\u2019s work: the artist\u2019s need to engage with the dreams, aspirations and disappointments of the person standing before a painting.<\/p>\n
Artistic Direction:<\/b> Thouli Misirloglou, Artistic Director of MOMUS\u2013Museum of Contemporary Art<\/p>\n
Curated by:<\/b> Theodore Markoglou, Art Historian, Curator at MOMUS<\/p>\n
Production:<\/b> Municipality of Thessaloniki and MOMUS\u2013Museum of Contemporary Art as part of the 61st Dimitria Festival<\/p>\n