Discoteque Athené. Lithographic pen drawing on paper, 70 x 100.

Disco culture reached its peak at the end of the 70s, after the release of the movie “Saturday Night Fever” (1977), while the international art scene was still dominated by Pop art, with Andy Warhol in the lead. The emblematic portraits of Marilyn Monroe by Warhol had already won great popularity around the world.

In Greece, the tourism boom during the 70s and 80s penetrated the local society, altering radically its cultural characteristics. On every Greek island disco clubs and latter bars popped up like mushrooms.

All the above facts were under consideration during the creation of “Discoteque Athené”. In this drawing from 1982, Warhol’s Marilyn is flirting with Praxiteles’ Youth of Marathon, while they are dancing in the hot, alluring Attic night. Inevitably, he is going to become seduced.

It was not the first time that I tried to transcribe ancient Greek themes in my work and breathe new life into them by incorporating them in modern reality. However, by working on this drawing, I realized for the first time, the remarkable similarity between the ideals of human beauty that are curved in the statues of the classical period and the beauty ideals of modern times.

Keywords: oil painting, smyrnios, drawing, disco, dance, warhol, marilyn, youth of marathon, beauty ideals, greek, greece, praxiteles, modern aesthetics