CV

Christos Sarakatsianos

Born in 1937 in Megali Gotista, Ioannina, he was first taught in art by religious icon painter Giorgos Kasakos and Panos Sarafianos. He then studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts, initially in the sculpture workshop of Thanassis Apartis and later under Yannis Moralis, on a Greek state scholarship. He studied also stage design and decorative art. Graduating in 1967, between 1967-1973 he travelled around Europe visiting museums and studying the trends in contemporary art. He also studied ancient Greek, Byzantine and folk art. 

He presented his first solo exhibition in Athens in 1982, at the “Ora” Cultural Centre. The main motif in his painting and printmaking is the nude female —and less frequently male— body. In painting he uses mostly acrylic and oil. The figures are sometimes rendered incomplete or with an arbitrary anatomy, using vivid flat colours and clear outlines dominated by curved lines. They are often accompanied by abstract elements of a strongly geometrical character that shape the background. The artist’s personal idiom was shaped by assimilating cubist, expressionist and surrealist elements, with additional references to geometric abstraction and ancient vase-painting. The content of his works reflects his preoccupation with the phenomena of life, fertility and death. 
His black-and-white prints demonstrate similar themes and the same codes he employs in painting. His woodcuts in particular highlights the hard, rough but also warm quality his material can exude. As part of his overall artistic pursuits he has illustrated and edited various publications. A founding member of the Copperplate Group (1977-1980), he is also active in several collective initiatives about art. 
He has had solo exhibitions and participated in many group shows in Greece and abroad (Italy, Belgium, Australia, Bulgaria, Germany, Cyprus). His works can be found in museums and galleries (National Gallery, Vorres Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art – Andros, National Bank of Greece, Municipal Galleries of Athens, Rhodes, Herakleion, etc.) as well as in private collections in Greece, Europe, American and Japan.