Nikos Kessanlis

Radical and innovative, Nikos Kessanlis belongs to the generation of Greek artists who were the first to attempt a dynamic change in art, an opening up to the contemporary international scene. A direct participant in European artistic developments since the 1950s, Kessanlis, through his work, has renewed the discourse of the Greek visual arts.

Yannis Spyropoulos put Kessanlis on his artistic course by helping him to obtain a four-year apprenticenship (1944-8). In 1948 Kessanlis enrolled in the Athens School of Fine Arts, where he studied under Yannis Moralis, while also working with Nikos Nikolaou. Having graduated cum laude in 1955 he went to Italy on a scholarship from the Italian Institute in Athens to attend the School of Art Conservation in Rome, where he stayed until 1959. His acquaintance with Thanos Tsingos convinced him he should settle in Paris in 1960, where he met Pierre Restany, a prominent figure in the French art world, and the nouveaux realistes, whose ideas were to influence his work for a number of years. This very active and creative period placed Kessanlis firmly at the forefront of artistic innovation in Europe.