> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.catapult-platform.art/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Niovi Kafantari Paints the Moment an Embrace Has Not Yet Decided - URL: https://www.catapult-platform.art/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-london/ - Published: 2026-11-03T03:29:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T03:29:00.000Z - Description: Explore Niovi Kafantari's The Necessary Other at Opera Gallery London, where oil on cotton paintings rework Titian, Poussin and Delacroix. - Author: Dominique Catherina Foertig - Tags: Exhibition, Memory & Identity, Body & Feminism, Myth & Folklore, Painting, London ## Opera Gallery Presents The Necessary Other in London An embrace can mean tenderness, possession, or something neither person quite understands yet. In *The Necessary Other*, Greek artist [**Niovi Kafantari** ](https://www.niovikafantari.com/?ref=catapult-platform.art)paints that uncertainty through bodies that meet, overlap and dissolve into colour. Her first London solo exhibition is on view at[ **Opera Gallery**](https://www.operagallery.com/?ref=catapult-platform.art)through November 8, 2026. **The Necessary Other** **Artist:** Niovi Kafantari **Exhibition:** The Necessary Other **Venue:** [ Opera Gallery London ](https://www.operagallery.com/?ref=catapult-platform.art) **City:** London, United Kingdom **Dates:** October 12, 2026 – November 8, 2026 **Address:** 65-66 New Bond Street, London W1S 1RW **Curators:** Federica Beretta and Giulia Lecchini **Photography:** Eva Herzog (installation views) **Image Courtesy:** Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London Niovi Kafantari's first London solo exhibition, The Necessary Other, is on view at Opera Gallery London, 65-66 New Bond Street, through November 8, 2026, curated by Federica Beretta and Giulia Lecchini. The paintings are oil on cotton, and the artist describes her method as one-field painting: the image is not built through successive corrections but has to emerge within a single continuous field. ![niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: seven colourful oil paintings along white gallery walls, a white column at centre and a wooden floor.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-installation-01.webp) Niovi Kafantari, The Necessary Other, installation view, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: hand-lettered text on a freestanding white wall beside a tall painting, three paintings in the room behind.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-installation-02.webp) Niovi Kafantari, The Necessary Other, installation view with hand-lettered wall text, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: four paintings in a row on a white wall, three in bright colour and one with a grey ground and a figure in yellow.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-installation-03.webp) Niovi Kafantari, The Necessary Other, installation view, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. What Was Promised was executed in roughly five to eight hours, she writes in the catalogue, after months of preparation. Other canvases start from smaller things: Last Tango from a marker drawing, Neighbor Imagined from a story a friend told her, My Father Introduced Me to Don Juan from Bergman's treatment of the myth. Below, the gallery's press release sets out how the exhibition reads these encounters. ### Press Release by Opera Gallery London The Necessary Other is the first London solo exhibition of Greek- London based artist Niovi Kafantari, presented at Opera Gallery London. Bringing together recent paintings, the exhibition considers how identity is formed and transformed through encounters with others: through intimacy, desire, dependence, vulnerability and power. ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: a visitor stands before a row of four paintings in a corner of the gallery.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-installation-05.webp) Niovi Kafantari, The Necessary Other, installation view, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-work-the-guest-who-wouldnt-leave-1.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-work-last-tango.webp) Niovi Kafantari, Left) The Guest Who Wouldn't Leave, 2026, oil on cotton, shown in The Necessary Other, Opera Gallery London, London. . Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. Niovi Kafantari, (right) Last Tango, 2026, oil on cotton, shown in The Necessary Other, Opera Gallery London, London. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: three paintings on a white wall, green brushwork around two seated figures, a tall pink and yellow canvas, a reclining nude.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-installation-04.webp) Niovi Kafantari, The Necessary Other, installation view, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: a reclining figure painting and a large canvas of a standing figure among red and pink bodies at a wall corner.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-installation-05-1.webp) Niovi Kafantari, The Necessary Other, installation view, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: a visitor looks at a large painting of a standing figure among red, pink and orange bodies on a white wall.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-installation-06.webp) Niovi Kafantari, The Necessary Other, installation view, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Photo: Eva Herzog. Courtesy Niovi Kafantari and Opera Gallery London. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-work-just-met.webp) ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-work-a-pastoral-fragment.webp) Niovi Kafantari, (left) Just Met, oil on cotton, shown in The Necessary Other, Opera Gallery London, London, 2026\. Courtesy of the artist. Niovi Kafantari, (right) A Pastoral Fragment, 2026, oil on cotton, shown in The Necessary Other, Opera Gallery London, London. Courtesy of the artist ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: oil painting of a standing pale figure with outstretched arm among red, orange and pink bodies on a dark green ground.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-work-what-was-promised.webp) Niovi Kafantari, What Was Promised, 2026, oil on cotton, shown in The Necessary Other, Opera Gallery London, London. . Courtesy of the artist Drawing on philosopher Adriana Cavarero’s thinking about relational identity, Kafantari approaches the human figure as something neither fixed nor entirely self-contained. Bodies meet, overlap, hesitate and withdraw; gestures of tenderness can also suggest tension or uncertainty. Her compositions occupy an unstable space between recognition and ambiguity. Art-historical and cinematic references enter the paintings as material for reinterpretation rather than illustration. Echoes of Titian, Michaelina Wautier, Nicolas Poussin and Eugène Delacroix are transformed through Kafantari’s contemporary visual language. Expressive handling of oil paint, shifts in scale and passages of exposed or unsettled space allow the relationships between figures to remain open to interpretation. The exhibition is curated by Federica Beretta and Giulia Lecchini. ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: oil painting of intertwined pink and orange figures above yellow and green forms, outlined legs at upper right.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-work-married-a-second-time.webp) Niovi Kafantari, Married, a Second Time, 2026, oil on cotton, shown in The Necessary Other, Opera Gallery London, London. Courtesy of the artist ![Niovi Kafantari, Opera Gallery London, London: oil painting of two seated figures in green, brown and pink brushwork with dark linear shapes on a white ground.](https://storage.ghost.io/c/1c/24/1c2478ff-417d-4e88-8226-288af467f6b9/content/images/2026/11/niovi-kafantari-necessary-other-opera-gallery-london-2026-work-how-nice-we-dont-understand-each-other.webp) Niovi Kafantari, How Nice That We Don't Understand Each Other, 2026, oil on cotton, shown in The Necessary Other, Opera Gallery London, London. Courtesy of the artist --- **About the Artist** **Niovi Kafantari** Niovi Kafantari is a Greek artist based between London and Athens who works across painting, drawing and sculpture. She holds an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths, University of London (2024) and a BA in Fine Arts (Sculpture) from the Athens School of Fine Arts. [Website](https://www.niovikafantari.com/?ref=catapult-platform.art) · [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/niovi15/?ref=catapult-platform.art) **About the Curators** **Federica Beretta** Federica Beretta is Global Director of Opera Gallery Group. She previously directed the gallery's Bond Street space in London. **Giulia Lecchini** Giulia Lecchini is Deputy Director of Opera Gallery London and one of the authors of the exhibition catalogue. **About the Location** **Opera Gallery London, London** Opera Gallery London is the London space of Opera Gallery, an international gallery for modern and contemporary art that opened its first spaces in Paris and Singapore in 1994\. It is at 65-66 New Bond Street. [Website](https://www.operagallery.com/?ref=catapult-platform.art) · [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/operagallery/?ref=catapult-platform.art) **About Catapult Contemporary** This is an exhibition feature published by Catapult Contemporary, an independent editorial platform for contemporary art, based in Vienna. We publish exhibition reviews, artist features, interviews, and critical context, with a focus on emerging and mid-career practices from Europe and beyond. [catapult-platform.art](https://www.catapult-platform.art/) · [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/catapultcontemporary/?ref=catapult-platform.art) Want to be featured? [Submit your work →](https://www.catapult-platform.art/submit/)