Marios Tériade Eleftheriadis, The Visual Artist

The route of the well-known visual artist from Thessaloniki to France passes through his family's cult restaurant with regulars of doctors, lawyers, seismologists, actors, singers, deejays, truck drivers, gyrologists, policemen and gendarmes, but also with Domna Samiou, Stelios Kazantzidis, Nitsa Tsitra, Nikiforos Papandreou, Akis Tsochatzopoulos, Dimitris Tsovolas. Common link:retsina, the common place that allows the feast, the joy of life, to begin.

"Modiano. Christmas. Lechrites. And long live Greece! Only there I drink retsina because it is in its natural environment. A Greek, salonican feast, which starts with retsina and kopsidia in the afternoon with the clarinet and ends at 'Vogatsikou 3' for 'after' cocktails".

A SURPRISING MATCH.

Is there a point of contact between retsina and a featured artist, who divides his life and activity between Greece and France? If this visual artist is Marios Tériade Eleftheriadis, the answer is clearly positive, since the acclaimed artist has behind him a childhood and adolescence, during which retsina was more than present: it was a protagonist.

"Retsina for me is the feasts at my parents' restaurant" he explains. “Spits, sixteen different stews a day made by my blessed mother, and records on the jukebox. And when Mrs. Anna was in the mood, she would put on 'I fell asleep in a stack of reeds', she would throw two stanzas and give two retsina to the regulars. Retsina 'Kehri' then, since Lagadas was nearby, but also 'Demesticha' and 'Tam Tam' - these were of the time. A lot of retsina came and the 'Lazodeutsche' (that's what they called the Lazo Germans) also put Coca Cola. Fashion, you see, of the time, which was established - even if they later spoke of 'Kumba Libre' and the rest. Everyone was drinking retsina in the shop: doctors, lawyers, seismologists, actors, singers, deejays, truck drivers, gyrologists, policemen, gendarmes, Domna Samiou, Kazantzidis, Nitsa Tsitra, Nikiforos Papandreou, Tsochatzopoulos, Tsovolas - all the people passed by 'Camelia', at the 46^st kilometer, as they called it, or 'Zabetta' - the restaurateur's father's nickname, because he put Zambetta on the jukebox. I tell you everything that comes to my memory, so I spend the first twenty years of my life in the restaurant photographically."

Talking to the well-known artist, we explain to him that retsina is one of the most characteristic Greek wines - if not the most characteristic, as it is produced exclusively in our country, combining two of its emblematic elements: the vine and the pine. He does not agree: "You don't call retsina 'wine'..." he argues. “Retsina is retsina – a categoryitself. That's how I have her in mind. As a pure-blooded Gallopontian, in France I was taught that wine should be one thing and retsinathe other and, of course, champagne something else. All from grapes, of course, but each with its own grace".

URBAN WELFARE.

What is the opinion of a Thessalonican about retsina as a raw material from which kefi is made? Does he agree or have his objections? Which is"Thessaloniki of retsina", according to Marios Tériade Eleftheriadis?

"Modiano. Christmas. Lechrites. And long live Greece! Only there I drink retsina because it is in its natural environment. With the instruments, the party, the itinerants, where we all become a group and wherever it takes off. Greek, Salonican party downtown, which starts with retsina and kopsidia in the afternoon with the clarinet and ends at 'Vogatsikou 3' for 'after' cocktails at midnight. Let's eat and party on the road."

THE JOY OF LIFE.

"I didn't drink wine or coffee" adds the acclaimed artist from Thessaloniki. "Now that I've 'grown up' - my horror -, I'm fine drinking retsina. As long as it has appetizers, songs and good company. The feast is the joy of life - and retsina together."

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