Apóstolos Georgíou

Born in 1952 in Thessaloniki, Greece.
Lives and works in Athens and Skópelos.

Apóstolos Georgíou is first and foremost part of the painting tradition. His paintings, often large-scale, depict men and women sketched with broad brushstrokes. These human figures break down the pictorial surface and the opposition between abstraction and figuration. Georgiou highlights profound feelings of alienation, solitude, and humor. While human beings are the main subject of the work, they are portrayed as anonymous figures without any individual characteristics.

Georgíou's geometrical compositions organize the picture plane with architectural rigour and design. The installed stage set describes spaces of the soul, which are part of imaginings stemming from our relationship with the Other as well as with our own self. These are spaces of abstraction and color games.  

Georgíou sees painting through observation. He observes the world, reality and people. In this way, he captures what comes to us, either deliberately or accidentally, what is addressed to us, either directly or fortuitously. Seen collectively, his work is about human relationships, about situations left unspoken for years, about seconds that can change one's life.

Apóstolos Georgíou's work has been exhibited at Documenta 14 (Athens and Cassel) ; 10th Gwangju Biennale ; Passerelle Centre d'Art Contemporain, Brest ; Frank F. Yang Art & Education Foundation, Shenzhen ; Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki ; EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens ; Nouveau Musée National de Monaco ; Centre Pompidou, Paris ; Gagosian Gallery, Athens ; Centre Régional d'Art Contemporain, Sète ; 4th Thessaloniki Biennale ; DESTE Foundation, Athens; and more recently at Aranya Art
Center, Qinhuangdao (China) and Mostyn, Wales.

His work is part of prestigious collections as Centre Pompidou, Paris ; Museum of Modern Art of the City of Paris, Paris; Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris ; Fondation Prat, Paris ; Kadist Art Foundation, Paris ; EMST National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens ; National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne ; Nouveau Musée National, Monaco ; Frank F. Yang Art and Education Foundation, Shenzhen ; European Investment Bank, Luxembourg ; Tia Collection, Santa Fe ; AMMA Fundacion, Mexico.