YIORGOS APOTSOS, Artist, Architect
Please click on the images to view them in bigger size. Copyright art and photos © 1998 Yiorgos Apotsos
BIOGRAPHY
Born 1951 in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Studied architecture in the Faculty of Technology, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, with Nikos Sahinis as his visual arts tutor (1970-75).
From 1975 to 1982, concurrently with his work as a painter and an architect also gave lessons in drawing to candidates for the Faculty of Fine Arts and the School of Architecture.
Member of the Association of Visual Artists of Northern Greece.
Individual exhibitions
Has held three solo shows in Thessaloniki and Athens
Group exhibitions include:
the Taftotita group exhibiton, French Institute, Thessaloniki 1975
The Post-War Generation of painters from Thessaloniki, 1940-1955, French Institute, organised by the Techni associaton, Thessaloniki 1978
AVANG exhibitions; Ten Carriers: Visual Artists from the School Of Architecture, Vafopouleio Cultural Centre, Thessaloniki 1986
Exhibition of visual art by Teachers and Alumni of the School of Architecture, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Municipal Art Gallery, Thessaloniki 1992
Artists from northern Greece, Zapeio building, Athens 1993
Art Isavron art gallery, Thessaloniki1995
Aspects of creativity in the visual arts in Thessaloniki since 1960, pavillon 1, International Fair, Thessaloniki
Apotsos started his career by introducing materials and objects into a painted environment and using their texture and colour as fundamental structural elements. In some compositions, the narrative is fragmented into smaller fields, thus enabling him to explore the potentialities of the colour and the formal possibilities of the objects at one and the same time. The inner coherence of the diverse materials is achieved mainly by judicious chromatic interventions.
He continued to articulate the painted surface with colour and objects in later works too. The volume and the textures of the objects he uses introduce the third dimension into the work, and at the same time colour assumes a dominant role. Mixed media, the use of different techniques, drips and runs of colour, and gestural interventions make up an abstract vocabulary which Apotsos handles consistently and to a high standard of perfection. In Bill-posting (1970), a combination of collage and mixed media, representational fragments co-exist with an abstract exposition and the different materials work together to create a varied style and formulation.
