Apostolos Georgiou studied architecture at the Hochschule für Angewandte Kunst in Vienna (1971–1973) and fine arts at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (1973–1975). His artistic practice has focused primarily on painting.
Georgiou’s painting looks at everyday life and at the tensions and relationships that lie beneath its surface. His works reflect complex psychological and social experiences of the present. His often simple, open-ended scenes revolve around questions of identity, alienation, and coexistence.
His figures inhabit unremarkable interiors and situations that appear familiar, yet are strangely stripped down. A few objects and simple gestures define the scene. The figures often stand awkwardly, appear bewildered, or are absorbed in quiet actions. It frequently remains unclear what is happening: something seems to have happened or is about to happen, yet the story is never fully revealed. In this way, Apostolos Georgiou creates timeless situations that cannot be assigned to a specific place or culture, giving them a universal quality.
Clear fields of colour and a simplified perspective transform the familiar into an atmospheric space filled with suggestion. It is precisely the deliberate restraint of the paintings that creates a particular psychological tension. They move between memory and the present, between the familiar and the strange. Viewers are invited to explore for themselves the relationships and connections between the figures and situations—even where nothing is explicitly stated.
It was relatively late, around 2010, that Apostolos Georgiou’s work began to attract international attention. His paintings have since been shown extensively in exhibitions around the world, including at MOSTYN (2024), the Fitzwilliam Museum (2023), Aranya Art Center (2023), Passerelle Centre d’Art Contemporain (2020), the Frank F. Yang Art & Education Foundation (2018), the New National Museum of Monaco (2018), Centre Pompidou (2017), documenta 14 (2017), Gagosian (2016), and the DESTE Foundation (2015, 2013, 2003).
Further presentations include documenta 14 (2017), the 10th Gwangju Biennale (2014), the 4th Thessaloniki Biennale (2013), the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art (2012), and the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens (2011). His works are held in major collections, including the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, the National Museum of Contemporary Art in Athens, and the Pinault Collection.
* 1979 Crete, Greece. Lives and works in Athens.
Work: Man Under the Sky (He Imagined his Life Naked)
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*1982, Athens, Greece. Lives and works in Athens, Greece.
Work: Martian Landscape VI – aus der Serie: The Future Light Cone (Six Martian Landscapes)
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*1979 in Athens, lebt und arbeitet in Athens and New York.
Work: Dynamis / Soma in Orgasm: as Sex
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