GIORGOS TSAKIRIS

Description

The Frogs

Painting, mixed media

George Tsakiris was born in Giannitsa in 1955. He is a professor at the 3rd Painting Laboratory of AUTh ASK with the subject: Painting.

At first he studied electronics. From 1976, however, he devoted himself to art. He studied at the School of Fine Arts of Florence (1977-81), where he was taught painting and engraving. Upon his return to Greece (1983) he moved between Athens and Thessaloniki, maintaining a workshop at the foot of Mount Paikos. His assets include more than sixteen solo exhibitions in Greece and Italy, while his participation in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad exceeds twenty-five. Among others, he participated in the European Polydidalos (1993) in Chania, in the XIX Biennale of Alexandria in 1997, in Athens by art (2004) etc. His work was presented more often in Thessaloniki. The artist received several awards: he won the Santa Croce Special Painting Prize in Florence in 1987 and 1982, as well as the First Vilamania Engraving Prize in 1981.
In his paintings and engravings until 1980, the influence he received from the painting of Francis Bacon is evident, while numbers and mathematical symbols, elements of Greek and Latin writing, which form words and phrases, are incorporated in the compositions. Gradually the surfaces lose their conventional square or rectangular shape. Wall works are often combined with real objects (tree trunks, ropes, etc.), forming construction units.
The years around 1980 mark the final transition of Tsakiris to three-dimensional constructions. Most of them have a totemic form and their placement in the space creates the feeling of an art that is closer to the ritual. This logic was followed in several series of works, which were presented in the late 80’s and early next. Important for the evolution of the artist was his installation on Mount Paiko (1986). This resulted in a series of outdoor interventions, which were in perfect harmony with the natural environment, without disturbing its morphology or function. What the artist proposed with this type of intervention was a special relationship of art with nature, but also a way for the public to perceive the work as a living presence, rather than as an artificial spectacle. Left to the forces of time, these constructions were morphologically altered, as happens in every living being. In the 1990s, living organisms are presented in front of spectators, in artificial ecosystems created by Tsakiris in the exhibition spaces. This time the art is not transferred to the countryside, but the natural functions are installed in the exhibition space.

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