After thirty - one years of absence, with great excitement, I return to my homeland reminiscing the past, living the present and planning the future together with you. I lived, grew up and started on a path, with survival as my sole concern, yet filled with hope and dreams. The circumstances are known to all of you. My professional achievement, which was based on "broker's faith", gave me both the opportunity and the means to create a collection of works of painting and sculpture of the modern, post - war period.

The cultural status of our country from the ancient times until the present day is internationally unique. With respect for the past and with egoism and pride for the present, I am trying, as far as I am able to, to collect and record the art events. It is my belief that only by comparison and research are we in a position to stand up and be compared to the so-called international tendencies. It is the only way to prove that art in Greece is not only regional but also international.

Today I return to honour my land, my friends, my fellow citizens and our culture through two great artists; the painter Theodoros Stamos and the sculptor Christos Capralos. I was fortunate to be very close with both of them for several years. This is the first part of my collection that is to be exhibited, and I hope that very soon, starting from Iraklion, we will all manage to become acquainted with an important part of our culture. I feel fortunate for having shared several years of my life with the life and friendship of T. Stamos and C. Capralos; both were unique personalities with both art and Greece deeply rooted in their souls.

The entire oeuvre of Stamos was a profound reflection and at the same time a rebellion against the events and the status quo prevailing after the end of the war. It is symbolic, codified, filled with emotion and profound spirituality, rooted in human values, with equilibrium in both form and colour, that while revealing the inner self of the artist cannot expose his psyche nor the cause that creates every work. It guides us through the Infinity Fields and the Spiritual Horizons and allows us to assign our own personal interpretation to his works.

Retrospection and observation from the ancient times until the present day reveals that in our days there are few artists that were able to and dared to become sculptors. The intensity and love for art was attained in the workshop of C. Capralos. I felt that I was living in a world totally different from any other I had known. His works had intensity, sensibility, and life to C. Capralos standing next to me. With his sculptures, one feels the same comradeship and coexistence that one feels by talking to him.

The cycle of life of man with Mother as the dominating symbol, the tragedy of life, the expression of pain, formed with Capralos' own manner, are manifested and make us realize that his sculpture was his feeling of life and creation. The story and the assessment of his oeuvre is recorded by his success at Biennale of Venice in 1962, the gallery of Martha Jackson in the United States, the collections which include his works, the Herther award that was presented to him in Austria, Moore's and Archipenko's visit to his workshop and the Christos and Soulis Capralos Foundation in Aegina.

The appreciation of both artists for the oeuvre of the other, and the desire for a personal meeting from both of them, is therefore not incidental. I feel fortunate that I arranged this meeting, during which I listened to the conversation of the two great artists. It lasted for two hours and its topic was "what is art". The conclusion was that "art is the continuation of divine creation." Both artists have bequeathed to us a rich cultural heritage, which forces us to act with the corresponding responsibility.

Our generation must carry thetrue world of "art and culture" and convey it to the next generation. For world peace, a world order based on culture is the safest protection from a new war.

Zacharias Portalakis
September 1998