SPECIAL EVENTS OF MY LIFE THAT HAVE INFLUENCED MY ART

An50 Spring in Japan	C2g718 The river that carries our hopes	An44 Dance of the savages of our mind
An133 A strange landscape in the village	C2n43 The velvet butterfly of our sensitivity	Bg414a Disturbed colorful waters
Bg220 A burning lava lake	An182 Praying for the rain to come	Bg60 Entangled desires

I was born in northern Greece and lived in a small town, Florina, in a forest next to a river where talented painters had the privilege to live. Some of them later became famous with international recognition, and certain became professors in art universities. Since my father, who was owner of the local electric power company, was the main collector of their art, I developed a great interest in their paintings and I used to watch very closely the methods and the techniques they used, while I painted for my scout team.

An important event that influenced my art happened when, as a student, I went to a series of auctions of modern art, where the paintings were sold at very high prices. That gave me the incentive to start working with modern painting and I began filling almost all my free time with this.

A main source of my inspiration is based on the beauties of nature that I photographed in the mountains of Florina, or on the beaches of Santorini (the island of origin of my wife). I photographed whatever beauty I saw (landscapes, flowers, persons, animals, monuments, etc), even underwater life. I had the chance to explore, by scuba diving, the bottoms of the more beautiful seas of the world such as Bora Bora, Moorea, Seychelles, Mauritius, Pucket, Bahamas, Red Sea, etc, while, by my yacht, I had the chance to visit the most beautiful Greek islands.

At the same time I took photos of the beauties of nature, from the polar circle and the frozen sea (Finland, Norway) and the ski resorts (Alps), to the rain forests (Brazil, Argentina, Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon, Thailand, etc), and the deserts (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Libya), while my business trips gave me the chance to visit the most important cities of the world. I digitized this large file of photos and put it in the computer, while during the last years I have used a digital camera of high resolution.

Another source of my inspiration, that sounds a little metaphysical, is to enter in deep meditation and to imagine that I use the techniques of a great painter of the future, and that I am on another planet, where I watch with my imagination the curious landscapes and creatures that live there, which later I try to include in my work. With regard to the choice of colors I use, I close my eyes and light up my face with various lights, while I see with my imagination a lot of colors passing in front of me, which afterwards I try to imitate.

Due to my serious business and academic occupations, for many years I considered my painting not as a profession, but as a hobby that pleasantly filled almost all of my free time. Thus I stored my many paintings (that I mainly painted in white hard painting paper weighting 100 grams per square foot, with usual dimensions 20x28 and 28x40 inches), one upon the other in shelves in the basement of my house, without frames. However, some years ago, after the death of my colleague who died in the peak of his business activities, I thought that I had worked enough earning money and that henceforth it would be good to do only what I like most. Thus I decided to stop working in order to deal 100% with my painting.

In 2005, prompted by my daughter, I published a book that contained more than 200 of my paintings connected with corresponding poems I wrote, 1600 copies of which I sent as gifts to friends, acquaintances and business collaborators. Then, with great pleasure, but also with some surprise, I began to receive a lot of enthusiastic comments for my paintings, and in particular from the art experts, which finally persuaded me to open my art to the public.

Thus, as I describe with more detail in my CV (ΙΙ.1.Β), I began to make or take part in exhibitions and to sell my paintings, (that until now I had kept exclusively for myself and for my close relatives), either in exhibitions or from my house, which I have changed into a large gallery. Also, as I analyze in my ‘’Techniques’’ (ΙΙ.1.Β1), I always try to discover and use new techniques, and I have besides the work I do on hard paper or on canvas (category A), the work I do by processing the paintings in the computer (category B), as well as the paintings where I combine a photo and a painting (category C).

My most gratifying experiences from my art are when, after I finish a painting that I really like, I stop for a while to admire it wondering: ‘’Is it I that made this masterpiece''?; and also when I receive enthusiastic comments and in particular from the art experts. On the contrary my most unpleasant experience was when, because of a water leak in the basement of my house, more than 300 of my old paintings were destroyed, either partially or totally, for which now I have only the pictures in my computer.

Finally referring to the question “what I believe makes my art stand out in the art world”, the best answer is given in the analysis made for my art by the art expert and collector, Mr. Constantine Krinos which I give (in translation) in the next page (II.1.B4), together with a summary of comments of four other art experts.

ENGLISH HOME PAGE

	An170 The crazy scientist inside us		Bg1040 Seashore of the tropical seas		An61 Gods of the Clouds
	An163 The dangerous bridge we will cross		Bn164 The precious bracelet		Ce04 The hot lava of our passion
	Bg544 Burning sky of another planet		C2g727 Mixed artist’s emotions		Bg556 House of a primitive man
	Bd66 Ghosrs around the river		Bd68 Living flowers in the hounded river		Bd74 Reflections of the living trees
	Ch482 A colorful sky in the 4^th and 5^th dimensions		Cd64 Colorful mountains in the 4^th and 5^th dimensions		Cd359 A yellow river in the 4^th and 5^th dimensions
	Cd200 Huge yellow cataract in the 4^th and 5^th dimens.		Bg945 Blue waves under the yellow sky		Cd630 A colorful cataract in the 4^th and 5^th dimensions
An204 Our prudent alter ego