Sotiris Panousakis

Sotiris Panousakis was born in Athens in 1968. In 1993 he graduated from the Visual and Applied Arts Department of the School of Fine Arts of the Athens University of Fine Arts. In 1996, he received a scholarship from IKY (Government Scholarship Foundation) and completed his postgraduate studies (Master of Arts in Fine Art) at Goldsmiths College, University of London, UK. Since November 2017, he is a lecturer (E.E.P.) at the School of Fine Arts, Department of Visual and Applied Arts of the University of Athens.

Since 2006 he has been painting images based on photographs he takes himself from places such as bars, shopping centers and generally public places and places of entertainment and commerce. The recording of all these images and consequently their drawing representations constitute a kind of personal archival material. He is interested in architectural and decorative elements as well as ‘neon’ signs. Metallic surfaces, hidden lighting and words like ‘SUPER STAR’, ‘SOCIAL’, ‘BIRTH’, compose a “fantasy” environment with the aim of seducing the subject, in order to consume. The purpose of the painting process is to highlight the allure and at the same time undermine the language of branding and the aesthetics of the urban environment by creating a framework for critique and dialogue.

He has done nine solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad: The Apartment (Athens), TinT (Thessaloniki), Marksman Gallery (Reading UK), CAN, Christina Androulidaki (Athens) and has taken part in many group exhibitions. As a collaborating artist with The Apartment gallery he has shown his work at international art fairs such as ARCO Madrid, 2004, Art Brussels, 2005, NADA ART FAIR MAIAMI, 2006, Armory Show, NY, 2010.