Michailidis Yannis (1940 - 2021)

He was born in 1940 in Skiathos island, where he mostly lived as a child. At first he moved with his family to Volos and in 1958 they settled in Athens. By then he had already started to paint, looking for his personal idiom, with the memories of Skiathos as his main stimulus. His initial painting subjects, the familiar images of the sea and the shipyard, recur in later works, as direct or indirect references to the Aegean landscape. His first solo exhibition was held in Athens (Nees Morfes gallery, 1968).
Paper, inks and temperas are his most preferred materials, used in a variety of ways. By pasting pieces of painted paper on the canvas with visible tears and overlaps, he creates pulsating coloured surfaces, which highlight the visual elements through the material’s texture. Both his seascapes and paintings of objects or his urbanscapes' scenes, relate to personal experiences, which sometimes have already been captured in photographs, and which are usually rendered in a suggestive or abstract manner, still remaining largely recognizable. In his recent works, the materiality of the surface subsides, in order to give way to a fluid, free-style painting, which shapes the compositions alluding to the transparency of the liquid element.
He has worked as a graphic designer (1966-74) and has taught in private schools and art studios. He has presented his work in numerous solo exhibitions in Athens and other greek cities, and has participated in 6 Pan-Hellenics and several other group exhibitions, mainly in Greece. In 1970 he won First Prize in the exhibition Young Artists of the Fine Arts Chamber of Greece (Arts and Culture Centre). He has also participated in the following events: Contemporary Greek Art Panorama (Athens National Art Gallery, 1976), Memories-Regenerations-Quests (Athens National Art Gallery, 1985), A Tribute to Pericles Pantazis (Averoff Art Gallery, 1996), Birthplace (Benaki Museum, 2007), etc.