biography

Iannis Nikou studied painting at the School of Fine Arts in Athens, from 1965 up to 1970, with G. Mavroides, N. Nikolaou, Y. Moralis in painting and E. Voila in the art of the mosaic. At the same time he attended the Athens Scool of Theatre and Cinema where he studied acting and scenography. Furthermore during this period, he completed his classic guitar lessons. He also worked on frescoes and did the scenery and costumes for theatrical productions.
In 1982, following a competition, he was chosen to represent Greece in the E.E.C. exhibition entitled "150 Young Painters of the Community".
In 1984, Dimitris Arvanitis, the cinema director, presented the work of Iannis Nikou in the film "Surrealism in Greek Painting", which won the first prize in the short classification, at the Thessaloniki Film Festival.
In 1985, whilst living in Italy, he was awarded a prize for his work by the Umbria Region and the Ministry of Tourism and, in 1987, the International Art Committee of Lugano bestowed on him the title of "Magister" and included his the special adition of "Protagonists of Italian Art". In 1988 he took part in the 7th Europeean Biennale, in Rome, where he won the Drawing prize. In the same year, he was also awarded by a special UNICEF's prize.
He has, so far, presented his work in many one-man shows, in Athens, Thessaloniki, Brussels, Milan, Brescia, Genoa, Rome and Toronto. He has also participated in exhibitions in Basel, Paris, Spoletto, Todi, Rome, Turin, Savona, Malta, New York, Toronto, Antwerp, and Nicosia. His work is mentioned in dictionaries and art books published in greece and Italy. Nikou's paintings are exhibited in art Museuns and private collechions in Greece and abroad.
He left Italy and returned to Greece in order to realize an old dream of his: to escape from the city and to live close to nature. In his wanderings about the country, he "discovered" what he believes to be the ideal environment for creation, a place in the nature of Macedonia, where he most of the time lives and works.

A few words about the artist's work

In I. Nikou's work one can easily notice a particurarity not usual in the contemporary art scene: the large thematic.
Therefore, his painting can be divided in unities, such as: the "angel's world", the "romantic medieval cycle", the "allegorical - paganistic cycle", the "transfigurations", the "biblical cycle", the "mythological themes", the "historical themes" and finally the drawings with pencil.
Another characteristic of his "identity", is his preference to express himself through paintings of really big dimensions, almost epical (of 5x2 meters of ex.) which give him the opportunity to unfold his artistic power and his special skill in design. Besides, drawing holds a position of prime importance in Nikou's work, a fact which has been repeatedly pointed out by the historians of art who have studied the artist's work.
Visiting the present site, you can merely have an idea about a painting of exceptional artistic value, based on the artist's knowledge in drawing and colouring and "fed" by Nikou's continuous study of literature, history and his interest in theatre, cinema, music and culture general.