ATHENS, GREECE – (April 2, 2024) – Aretaieion University Hospital, with the support of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, will welcome Aretaieia, a permanent sculpture by George Petrides on the Hospital’s premises at 76 Vasilissis Sofias Avenue in Athens. The sculpture will adjoin the historic neoclassical hospital building built in 1898 and will be visible from the adjoining avenue.

Sculptor George Petrides said “I am humbled to have Aretaieia, inspired by my love for my Mother, be part of this leading University Hospital in the city of Athens where she gave birth to me many years ago. In creating the sculpture, I have drawn on ancient Greek sculptural traditions while using state of the art technology to fabricate her. I hope she will offer inspiration to the many patients, families and medical students who come to the hospital every day.”

“I am grateful to the brilliant surgeons and doctors with whom I worked on this project: Prof. Gerasimos Siasos (Rector of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens-NKUA), Prof. Nikolaos Arkadopoulos (President of the Medical School-NKUA), Prof. Konstantinos Tsioufis (President of Aretaieion University Hospital), Prof. Manousos Konstantoulakis (Chairman of Surgery), Prof. Nicoletta Iacovidou (Chairwoman of Neonatology), Dr. Dimitris Vassilopoulos, and especially Prof. Nikolaos Vlahos (Chairman of OB-GYN) who first invited me to work with them on this multi-year endeavor.”

For Aretaieia, Petrides focused on his relationship with his mother, Yota Petrides, and then, as he has with other works, drew upon sculptural precedents of centuries past. The archaic Kore from the mid-5th Century BC, found in the Acropolis Museum, influenced the face and hair; the oversized Zeus of Artemision (450 BC), found at the National Archaeological Museum indicated the size and base design; the female nude Aphrodite of Knidos (the original Greek work from 4th Century BC has been lost; Roman copies survive) was crucial to Petrides’ presentation of a female nude in a natural stance; Byzantine icons of the pregnant Virgin Mary inspired the mother’s ethos.

“In creating the artwork, I have combined the ancient and the state of the art.” added Petrides. The sculptor started with a live model and clay, then used digital sculpting software to prepare files for 3D printing. He sourced recycled PETG plastic from medical waste packaging, printing the body using industrial machines in-house.

Finished in gold metal coating, Aretaieia references the ancient Greek practice of adorning statues of gods with gold to convey power, immortality, and divine nature. In siting the statue on the Aretaieion premises, Hospital leadership and Petrides chose a location which looks across Vasilissis Sofias Avenue at Greek sculptor Yiannis Pappas’ statue of Eleftherios Venizelos, the venerated Greek statesman. The location inspired Petrides to place the two works in dialogue, particularly through their physical stance.

About Aretaieion University Hosptial

Aretaieion University Hospital was founded in 1894 by the bequest of Theodoros Aretaios, a famous surgeon of the time, and his wife Eleni. The hospital laid the foundation for medical education in Greece: over the last 120 years thousands of medical students, later doctors who practiced in Greece or excelled abroad, have been educated there. Today, the Hospital continues to be at the forefront of medicine and medical education, housing the 2nd Surgery Clinic of NKUA, the 2nd Obstetrics-Gynecology Clinic of NKUA, the 1st Radiology Laboratory of NKUA, the 1st Anesthesiology Clinic of NKUA, the Nephrology Clinic of NKUA, the Neonatology Clinic of NKUA and many modern laboratories.  As the first University Hospital in Greece, it continues to be an important part of the Medical School of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Founded in 1837, NKUA is the oldest University in Greece, the Balkan peninsula and the Eastern Mediterranean region. Today NKUA has some 2,000 faculty and 69,000  students.

About George Petrides

George Petrides, who lives and works in New York City and Athens, Greece, creates a diverse range of sculpture, including abstract pieces and public works. Born in Athens in 1964 and raised there and in New York, he is steeped in ancient Greek sculpture and the works that were influenced by it (ancient Roman sculpture, renaissance sculptors such as Donatello, Michelangelo, later sculptors such as Rodin and Maillol and contemporary sculptors who are influenced by these tradition such as Charles Ray and Huma Bhabha.) His creative process is of his own invention, combining ancient and contemporary methods, including traditional clay modeling by hand, digital sculpting and 3D printing, and often ending with bronze-casting in the manner of the ancient Greeks. 

Petrides’ first career was on New York’s Wall Street. At age 32, he took his first-ever art class in oil painting. He continued to study and make art part-time for more than 20 years, taking drawing, painting and sculpture classes at the New York Studio School and The Art Students League in New York, with occasional classes at L'Académie de la Grande Chaumière in Paris. He was drawn there to study in the same rooms where some of his influencers once studied: Louise Bourgeois, Alberto Giacometti, Isamu Noguchi among others. In 2017, he decided to dedicate himself to making art full time.

This spring, Petrides’ traveling exhibition, Hellenic Heads: A Personal Exploration of Greek History and Culture Over 2,500 Years, will be exhibited in Venice, Italy, where it will be presented by The Embassy of Greece in Rome and The Hellenic Institute of Byzantine and Post-Byzantine Studies of Venice, in cooperation with The Honorary Consulate of Greece in Venice and The Greek Orthodox Community of Venice and with the support of The Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy. For each of six historical periods, Petrides studied masterpieces by sculptors such as Michelangelo and Rodin, as well as archeological artifacts, academic sources, and historical photographs. With that foundation, he asked a family member to pose for each piece—some live and some from photographs and memory. The Heads will be on view in the courtyard of the Church of San Giorgio dei Greci adjoining the Hellenic Institute from 15 April 2024 to 24 November 2024.