Yorgos Stamkopoulos’ main inspiration is drawn from the abstract and altered colour that is to be found in music and nature. For him, painting is not an accumulation of pre-meditated gestures plotted out on a canvas, nor is it an expressive act. Painting is instead something that is removed from the canvas, while his art is that which remains; creation through deconstruction. Each work is the final trace of a thick ‘skin’ built up with casting material on canvas, over which layers of colour and paint are applied before the final dermis is peeled off, and the subtle imprint beneath is revealed. While his artistic approach appears to be aligned with the position of a traditional painter, his studio practice is closer to the methodology of a sculptor.

Yorgos Stamkopoulos (*1983, Katerini, Greece) lives and works in Berlin. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts in Greece and at the Universität der Künste in Berlin. He held a scholarship from the Onassis Foundation during the academic year 2010-2011. Solo shows (Selection): As Time Goes By, eins gallery, Limassol, 2019, Another Perfect Day, Nir Altman gallery, Munich, 2019, Worlds Beneath, Nathalie Halgand Galerie, Vienna, 2018, Trajectory, Mario Iannelli Gallery, Rome, 2017, Beyond Ancient Space, CAN Christina Androulidaki gallery, Athens, 2014. Group shows (Selection): Tomorrow’s Dream, Neuer Essener Kunstverein, Essen, 2018, Io sono qui, curated by Lorenzo Bruni, MACRO, Rome, 2017, No Superior Side, COSAR HTM, Dusseldorf, 2017, Looking Forward, The Breeder, Athens, 2011, The Bar, curated by Marina Fokidis, Kunsthalle Athena, Athens, 2010