At the age of eight, he enrolled in the Valencia Arts and Crafts School, where he received his first drawing and painting lessons. After completing his secondary education, he enrolled in 1968 in the Valencia School of Fine Arts, in which he studied until 1969. In 1969-1974, he studied Architecture at the Superior Technical School of Architecture in Valencia and went on to postgraduate studies in Urban Planning. He then received his degree in Civil Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich (1975-1979), followed by a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences at the ETH Department of Architecture (1979-1981). In 1981, he established his first office in Zurich. In 1989, he established an office in Paris and in 1991 in Valencia.

He has received a great number of awards and medals, including the Artists’ Award of the City of Barcelona for the Bach-de-Roda Bridge (1988), the Silver Medal for Research and Technique of the Fondation Academie d’Architecture (1970), the Gold Medal of the London Institute of Structural Engineers (1992), the Gold Medal for Distinction in Fine Arts by the Spanish Ministry of Culture (1996), as well as the Exitos 2000 Award for his Valencia Museum of Sciences (2001). He is a fellow in several universities in Europe and the United States as well as member of many organisations, including the International Architecture Academy (1987), the Royal Institute of British Architects (1993) and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences (1999).

With wide-ranging interests (architecture, sculpture and design) and drawing inspiration from numerous sources (sculptor Konstantin Brancusi, architect Antonio Gaudi, Gothic art, and above all nature), Santiago Calatrava produces works of imposing aesthetic qualities, which blend harmoniously with their surroundings. Starting from drawing and sculpture, he creates forms which evolve into architectural structures – bridges, airports, railway stations, museums, opera houses – and whose extraordinary, minimal style echoes organic forms. Never opting for functionalism at the expense of aesthetics, and with evident awareness of the construction media, he designs buildings of dynamic forms, distinguished for their harmony and lightness.

He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1957-1962) under Yannis Moralis and engraving under Kostas Grammatopoulos. In 1966, on a scholarship from the State Scholarship Service, he went to Paris where he studied fresco and mosaic at the School of Fine Arts until 1969. Returning to Greece he taught drawing and color for many years at private schools, while at the same time involving himself with set design and book illustration.

He began to exhibit in 1960 and this activity now includes both solo presentations and appearances in Panhellenies and group exhibitions of painting and engraving in Greece and abroad.

His work, characterized by a personal style in which are combined elements of figurative and abstract painting, includes compositions of a surrealist character in which color plays an important role, contributing to the creation of a poetic and dream-like atmosphere.

After completing his studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1967 – 1972), he completed post-graduate studies at Boston University (1979 – 1982). During 1983 – 1991, he taught at the 4th Painting Workshop at the Athens School of Fine Arts. His work has been presented in group exhibitions (Zoumboulakis 1987, Lindblom, Helsinki 1990, Ileana Tounta 1991, 1995) and group exhibitions.

In his work, consisting of painting, constructions, environments and using materials such as coal, burnt wood or paper, and soil, the figuration is treated as a “conceptual” idea, expressing the artist’s anxiety in the face of the world and his future (“Mountains series”, “Trees series”).

“He was born in Athens in 1950. He studied Economics and Political Science at the University of Athens. He went on to study at the University Paris VIII, receiving a Licence in Philosophy as well as a Licence and Maitrise in Cinema and Audiovisual Media (Department of Cinema and Fine Arts). Since 1972, he has been living and working in Paris.
In his work, he turns to the great questions, reinventing the concepts of individuality-collectivity, private and public space, visible-not visible. Since 1989, the thunderbolt has been the pivotal element in his work. “

She has studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1942-1947) with professors Kostas Dimitriadis and Michalis Tombros. She has also worked at Thanassis Apartis’s studio.

She has had solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad and taken part in group exhibitions, including Panhellenic exhibitions, exhibitions of the group “Armos” [Junction] (1949, 1950), of which she was founding member, and the Sao Paulo Biennale (1965).

From the beginning of her career until around 1960, Natalia Mela’s work was in a traditional vein, comprising for the most part commissions and busts, made in marble or stone. From around 1960, she has worked more frequently on metal, whose qualities played a substantial role in shaping her new aesthetic. Elements of abstraction now became very frequent in her work, without however completely abandoning the depiction of natural objects. She drew her subjects from the natural and animal world, and mythology. In animal motifs especially she found fertile ground in order to capture the force and vitality of nature.