Petros Chrisostomou in Athens

ATHENS, Greece—Half of the fun in visiting Xippas Gallery, an important destination in Athens's art scene, is walking down Sofokleous Street. You’ll pass assorted street vendors, the impeccably designed Fresh Hotel, a large contingent of odd shops, and a slew of folks adding to the melting pot of new Europe before you reach Xippas’s nondescript entrance and surprisingly pristine gallery. On view there through February 9 are Petros Chrisostomou’s photographs of imagined interiors, which are actually miniature constructions of diverse materials.

Chrisostomou, born in London in 1981, uses an odd assortment of everyday objects to populate his uncanny diminutive environments, which he then photographs. Chewing gum, coins, deflated balloons, plants, banana skins, candy, and chocolate wrappings make their way into the work. The images may not be wholly convincing as real spaces, but that is not the artist’s intent. A sense of humor colors many of the photos—such as Big Wig 21 and Bananadosh (both 2006)—but the most successful aspect of this work is the odd sense of scale that comes into play. The dollhouse quality of Chrisostomou’s milieus is amplified by his use of large elements that overwhelm the space, such as the ballpoint pens forged together in a menacing, serpentine coil of coins in Heroin (2006). While the premise behind these setups is not new, they are executed with enough skill and personality to give Barbie a nightmare and still have a personality all their own.

Here are the five exhibitions Chrisostomou recommends in Athens:

1. Jan Fabre: Who Shall Speak My Thoughts (Of My Body) at Alpha Delta Gallery, through January 31

“This show struck me as superbly visceral. It hits hard at the senses with intellectually astute narratives that deliver visually stimulating art across an array of mediums. The artist’s aesthetic can be stereotyped as morbid, and if that’s not what turns you on, you may confuse it with a bad case of Madame Tussaud’s meets Columbo. However, I believe in these works. The sincerity and generosity that comes across in the work left me in a state of intrigue both during and after my experience of the exhibition. Highlights for me were the still life glass sculptures and the life-size model with blood leaking from the nose. Definitely worth a look!”

2. Fractured Figure at the DESTE Foundation, through April 19

“The works on display in this group show of big guns, curated by Jeffrey Deitch, definitely live up to the celebrity image that it commands. All the names are here, from Fischer to Condo, Gober to McCarthy, and not forgetting the always present DESTE show participant Jeff Koons. This is a show to take your kids to—it has a theme-park feel! It also has lots of personality and allows viewers to develop their own intimacy with select pieces, which is fortunate, as I find the concept of the show [Deitch argues "the new interpretation of the figure is more about the real world than the ideal world"] rather overwhelming, in part because the collection is so vast and disparate. It is also great to see a few Greek names in the mix—Christiana Soulou, for instance. And there is a rather fetching Chris Ofili painting, too."

3. In Present Tense: Young Greek Artists organized by the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST) and held at Megaro Mousiki, through March 30

“This survey exhibition claims to showcase a ‘new aesthetic’ in the contemporary Greek art scene and display a global cross section of what it means to be a young Greek artist in the world today. Although I like to be seduced at exhibitions by playful and even bombastic work, I am proud to see a show that displays a level of highbrow intellectualism. This is definitely an exhibition that needs time to be digested, and when you’ve done so, it leaves many avenues open for critical discourse. Works that stand out for me are Kostis Velonis’s almost primitive sculptures, Maria Antelman’s complex, subtle video work, and Katerina Christidi’s quirky charcoal drawings.”

4. Vassili Balatsos: Civil Disorder at the Apartment, through February 9

“I am very fond of the the Apartment’s space: It’s quaint and pretty and has the leverage to display some amazing exhibitions. The works of Vassillis Balatsos are a visual feast of creativity. He uses an array of media and source material to describe a social landscape in a way that is abstract and at once descriptive and nondescript; this combined with his obvious dexterity and zest for combining elements makes for a great exhibition.”

5. Dimitris Tsoublekas: Family Affairs at the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre, February 14 through March 15

“Tsoublekas’s photographic works have a surreal, comical, and poetic nature that I adore. The elements that he extrapolates from the world around him are quite specific to certain genres, but when juxtaposed with the context in which he sets them, they subvert the nature of our reception to them.”