Yannis Papayannis
Back to artistsI am a UK based artist, born in Athens in 1962. Studied Art at the Bath Academy of Art (1981-82) and at the Byam Shaw School of Art (1983-86). Taught Art at the Vacalo Art and Design College in Athens (1999-2011). Accredited lecturer by Derby University.
I have had nine solo exhibitions in Athens and Thessaloniki and participated in many group exhibitions in Greece and Europe (including the Benaki Museum, Vorres Museum of Modern Art, Museum of the City of Athens, Museum of Contemporary Art of Crete, Museum of the City of Moscow, Pierides Foundation Museum).
'The narrative commentary has been a pretext to continually renew my artistic language by fusing traditional and contemporary art techniques. This achieves a vivacious expression and genre, rather than creating a recognizable idiom.
I am involved in an expressionism-based practice, bringing my canvases into action through a strong colour palette, gestural brushstrokes and narratives that insert, in a subtle matter, dissonance, like a disagreeable auditory experience of sound that lacks cohesion. I am inspired by musical compositions and choreography and I am engaged in a very particular process arranging expressive elements and colours, as a composer would score a series of sounds and notes or as a choreographer that instructs a dancer where and how to move about in a specific place.'