Kallimopoulos Michalis (1970)

Born in Athens in 1970, he studied painting at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia (1991-1995) and sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1997-2001).
In his early works he is interested in rendering the human face with those details which can convey the subject's special features and capture their spirit, if only momentarily. His first solo exhibition "I, according to me" (2007, Nees Morfes) comprised the twelve busts of nonexistent individuals, considerable or even heavily distorted, in which he monumentalises the momentary. His aim is for the work to focus on its information and its composition rather than the figure itself.
In his second exhibition, "The image inwards" (a.antonopoulou.art, 2013), he centres mostly on painting and names the show after the expression "The country's outward image". Inspired mainly by social and political issues approached from a psychoanalytical viewpoint, he attempts a social commentary through a narrative that combines painting and sculpture.
His latest series of works, "One, no one, eleven hundred" (a.antonopoulou.art, 2016), he points the viewer towards contemporary mores and balances triggered by anthropological and social realities of a small or major scale. His two sculptural installations, "Cosmos" and "Sunday", invited visitors to reflect upon themselves and the interaction—or non-interaction—with other people.
He has presented his work in solo exhibitions in Athens (2007, 2013, 2016) and has participated in dozens of group exhibitions in Greece and Italy. Also active in stage design and as illustrator of books, catalogues and other printed matter, he has taught art at various levels of education. In 2014 he established "learning to See", a visual literacy lab as part of the Psifida Cultural Club.