Papayannis Theodoros

He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1960-1965) at the Yannis Pappas workshop, and in addition learned the technique of plaster work and bronze casting under Nikos Kerlis. During the period 1966-1968 he studied, on a Greek state scholarship, ancient Greek art as well as the art of the Broader Mediterranean region and later went on educational trips to Cyprus, Egypt, Asia Minor, Constantinople, and various European countries.

In 1970 he was designated an assistant at the Yannis Pappas sculpture workshop. In 1972, as head of a group of students at the School, he toured the Zagorochoria in Epirus and made prints of stone and wood reliefs and architectural elements derived from the folk and traditional art there.During the period 1981-1982 he spent his educational leave in Paris where he studied the new technical application of metal and other materials used in contemporary sculpture at the Ecole des Arts Appliques et des Metiers d’Art. Since 1987 he has been teaching at the Athens School of Fine Arts, initially as an assistant professor and since 1991 as a full professor in the 1st Sculptural Workshop.

Along with several others of his colleagues, he founded the Center of the Visual Arts in 1974, and presented his first solo exhibition there in 1975. This was followed by a series of solo exhibitions as well as participation in a host of group exhibitions in Greece and abroad.

The human figure isolated or in pairs, has been the focus of his work in all the stages of his creative career. Making full use of his artistic education as well as his innate talent, he quickly distanced himself from strict naturalistic depiction, turning to more abstract renditions. In the works from this period one sees the influences of contemporary sculpture combined with elements of traditional arts, as the compositions were worked in marble, porous stone, and bronze, and were processed with particular skill. His later turn to the rendering of majestic, hieratic, standing figures, which came to constitute a characteristic and very impressive series of works, led to the use of various other materials. Iron, wood, polyester and various metals, processed or plain, and put together with dexterity, in some cases even painted, were used for the rendering of imposing totemic figures which themselves refer back to the divinities of ancient civilizations. Along with his monumental sculpture, he has been occupied with works of small size done in terracotta, whose subjects are taken from everyday life. His artistic creation also includes medals and coins, commissions for statues and monuments in various areas of Greece, a large number of busts, as well as decorative compositions for hotels, business firms, and private residences.