Dakis Joannou

Joannou’s Pop Yacht Gets Iggy Wherever It Goes

December 2, 2013 by Marion Maneker

Joannou's Guilty

Dakis Joannou’s Koons-decorated yacht is suddenly on Forbes’s radar, though the article gives little explanation as too why now. No matter. The unique craft painted with a version of WWI razzle-dazzle camouflage always makes good copy:

On the sides of the vessel, Koons played with the idea of pyramids, an oasis and a mirage. “If the sea were calm, then you would get a reflection, and the pattern would have a doubling effect making it even more abstract,” the artist says. Viewed from the top, a huge image of Iggy Pop performing onstage stares back. “Iggy is there as a contemporary Dionysus figure,” Koons says of the rock god as Greek god.

While the exterior is as rebellious as the Stooges’ Raw Power, the yacht’s interior takes on a completely different aesthetic. The walls and ceilings are all chillingly white, with enormous windows to maximize natural light. And much like experiencing the installations of American artist James Turrell, being inside Guilty during the day is like walking onto the set of a science fiction movie, with a central staircase that turns from pinkish violet to galactic blue and finally warm yellow.

Dakis Joannou’s Mega Yacht ‘Guilty’ By Jeff Koons And Ivana Porfiri, An Act Of Calculated Irreverence (Forbes)

How to Solve Greek Problems? Return the Elgin Marbles

October 19, 2011 by Marion Maneker

Dakkis Joannou, who was involved in the Guggenheim’s expansion in Blibao, sounds off on the Greek financial crisis to Bloomberg. He’s frustrated at Greece’s government. The government, no doubt, is frustrated that the United Kingdom won’t return the Elgin Marbles:

“Culture is a big business that people are hungry for and we have huge assets,” Joannou, 71, says from his office in the shadow of the Olympic stadium. “But the government uses our assets to make political statements and to gain votes. It’s a matter of survival for them, and nobody wants to invest in culture or anything else in a climate of bankruptcy.”

Even so, Joannou says that the two main political parties, Pasok and New Democracy, are devoid of the necessary cultural drive, and that the government’s projected 12 percent rise to 16.5 million foreign tourists visiting Greece in 2011 compared with last year is a Pyrrhic indicator.

“The tourists who come to Greece go to the sunny islands, making any rise in visitor numbers pathetic in comparison to our assets,” he says. “Culture management must be creative, imaginative, exciting and that can’t be done here.”Continue Reading

Lindemann Defends New Museum

March 15, 2010 by Marion Maneker

Collector Adam Lindemann published in the New York Observer last week a defense of the New Museum show curated by Jeff Koons that features works from the collection of Dakis Joannou. It is not worth reading for that defense–who cares anymore?–but for the interesting points he makes about the art world, like this provocative one:

Additional thunder has been drained from the museums, with the galleries increasingly doing many of the best shows in town. Shows of Picasso and Piero Manzoni (Acquavella, Gagosian), as well as those of Koons, Alighiero e Boetti and Cindy Sherman (L+M, Gladstone, Skarstedt), have put gallery shows in direct competition with museums. Gallerists know the material and can act quickly; they are committed and don’t need to pander to broad and politically correct guidelines.

Art Critics: Get Real! (NY Observer)