Paralis Giorgos

He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1928-1933) under Umvertos Argyros and then turned his attention to Byzantine art, making a trip to Mt. Athos during the time he was studying. Later he completed his artistic education travelling to various European countries.

Settling in Thessaloniki in 1937, he taught drawing at Anatolia College until 1970, while from 1954 to 1958 he worked with Dimitris Kentakas doing the religious painting for the church of Ayios Nikolaos on the Acropolis of Serres.

Having begun to exhibit in 1933, he presented his work in solo, Panhellenies and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, such as the Alexandria Biennales of 1958 and 1971 and the Salon de l’Art Libre in 1968 (silver medal) and 1969. In 1980 his work was presented in a retrospective exhibition at the National Gallery.

His painting originally included landscapes, mansions and churches, which he depicted realistically, travelling to various parts of Greece. Later he introduced deserted beaches into his repertoire, the central element of which is a piece of wood, a rock or a bone which then acquires a symbolic value, while during the final stage of his work, in a romantic attempt to revitalize the past, he depicted the facades of shops in working class neighborhoods of Thessaloniki.