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Alekos Fassiano’s ‘Golden Bike owner’, blended media with gold leaf, 79.9 cm x 47.7 cm.
Born in Athens in 1935, Alekos Fassianos was an emblematic determine of the Greek twentieth century artwork scene and one in all Greece’s most well-known painters. He died on January 16, 2022.
Fassianos’ pursuits and abilities had been apparently marked from an early age; his father was a music trainer and composer, whereas his mom, who had a eager curiosity in historical past, taught historic Greek and took the kids to archaeological websites. His grandfather’s affect was most eager, and it was he who inspired Fassianos to pursue artwork. In 1945, amid the horrors of World Conflict II and the Greek Civil Conflict, Fassianos started to color.
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Alekos Fassiano’s ‘The Violinist’, serigraph, 40.2 cm x 51.5 cm.
In what could have been resulting from his father’s occupation, Fassianos first studied violin on the Nationwide Conservatory of Athens for twelve years, and it was right here that he met musicians reminiscent of Mikis Theodorakis and Yannis Markopoulos, figures who would proceed to be necessary in his life.
From right here Fassianos entered and studied portray on the Athens Faculty of Fantastic Artwork below the well-known Greek visible artist Yiannis Moralis, whereas additionally frequenting the studios of different well-known painters, notably Yiannis Tsarouchis.
In 1960 he traveled to Paris to check lithography on the Ecole Superieure des Beaux Arts, the place he built-in himself into the artwork scene and have become acquainted with the town’s many poets, writers and artists. It was throughout this decade, the Nineteen Sixties, that his distinctive anthropocentric fashion was developed after a short transfer again to Athens after his research, the place he and two pals opened a studio within the Kallithea neighborhood amongst Greece’s personal artwork scene.
Fassianos quickly discovered himself again in Paris, the place he would dwell for the following 35 years.
The Seventies introduced solo exhibitions in Paris, New York, Milan, Geneva and Sao Paolo, a pattern that continued into the Eighties, with Munich, Japan and Sweden now a part of the catalog of exhibits, with Melbourne added in 2011 with an exhibition on the Hellenic Museum and quite a few retrospectives through the years as effectively.
Throughout his profession, which spanned greater than 5 many years, Fassianos’ work has been exhibited on 4 continents in over 70 exhibitions. In recognition of his achievements and contribution to the humanities, he has been awarded numerous prestigious honors, together with Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters by France, Honorary Member of the Russian Academy of Arts and in Greece.
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Fassianos’ inventive fashion, which started as summary and later expressionist portray, developed into his recognizable signature fashion of flat, monochrome silhouettes, which has made him probably the most recognizable and beloved Greek artists. He drew his topics from Greek myths, Byzantine icons and cash, Fayum portraits, Shadow Theater and the Greek cultural and geographical panorama.
The juxtaposition of the traditional and the fashionable can be a recurring function of Fassiano’s work, as is what he calls ‘the parable of Greekness’. As such, his artwork is crammed with heroic nudes and historic ruins set towards the cosmopolitan café life-style of contemporary Greece. At first, the works could appear easy, however the layers of parts that make up a piece give them an unprecedented depth.
The works are additionally typically characterised by motion, which is emphasised by hair or garments that blow as if in a sport and virtually bounce off the partitions. The intense, daring construction of his works and his use of shade make these thrilling photographs a must-see.
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Alekos Fassiano’s ‘Golden Bike owner’, blended media with gold leaf, 79.9 cm x 47.7 cm.
His works share qualities with artists reminiscent of Matisse, Picasso and Botero. Nevertheless, in contrast to different Greek artists of his era, he didn’t clearly embrace any of the European avant-garde actions of the time. He remained true to figurative portray and his Greek heritage, sustaining his respect for the teachings of the 30s, his love of Greek artwork (historic, Byzantine and people) and his understanding of what it’s to be Greek.
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Alekos Fassianos in his studio and residential in Athens | © Paris Tavitian
Colour should at all times matter!
– Alekos Fassianos, Athens 1964
Presently, Alekos Fassianos Property is endeavor a long-term venture to publish a complete catalog of Fassianos’ works in a single digital catalog, concurrently archiving the artist’s sketches, drafts, research, etchings, books and paperwork of his inventive course of.
You may learn extra about this venture and Fassiano’s right here