Tassos Mantzavinos
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Tassos Mantzavinos (Greek: Τάσος Μαντζαβίνος; born March 2, 1958) is a Greek painter who graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts. His work has been exhibited in many museums and galleries in Greece and abroad and he has also worked on various book illustrations.
Tassos Mantzavinos was born in Athens on 2 March 1958. His first painting instructors were Manos Sofianos and Mimis Kontos. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts in 1979 and graduated with distinction in 1984. Among his teachers was Yiannis Moralis. In 1984 he held his first solo exhibition in Athens at Gallery 7. Tassos Mantzavinos continued with numerous solo exhibitions in Greece and participated in group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. He also participated in the 2nd and 3rd Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean in Thessaloniki and Barcelona, as well as the 16th Biennale of Alexandria in 1987. Along with his artistic career, Tassos Mantzavinos taught drawing at the Vakalo Art & Design College in Athens and worked on various book illustrations.
Work
Since his early period, the key elements of his painting were the anti-naturalistic, expressionistic intensity in the drawing style of his forms and an existential exploration through particular themes, but also through the act of painting itself. After the mid 1990s, the largest part of his work features narrative elements, referring to personal memories, experiences and dreams, clearly autobiographical, or strongly symbolic folk tales and traditions. Tassos Mantzavinos’ themes sometimes acquire a surrealistic dimension, as they are presented in unexpected combinations. The frequent presence of the artist's figure in the paintings, and his fascination with certain thematic motifs reveal a deep, empathetic link between the artist and his work. His three-dimensional wooden constructions, one of his latest artistic endeavours, function as an extension of his painting, enhancing its communicative immediacy.
Solo exhibitions
- 2013 Tassos Mantzavinos-Kostas Papanikolaou, Citronne Gallery, Poros, Greece
- 2012 Tassos Mantzavinos, Theorema Art Gallery, Brussels, Belgium
- 2012 “For my strength is made perfect in weakness”, Benaki Museum, Greece
- 2012 Skoufa Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 2010 Chess, K-Art Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 2010 Zoumboulaki Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 2010 Angelo and Lito Katakouzenos Foundation, Athens, organised by the Hellenic Folklore Research Centre of the Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece
- 2008 Galerie Aliquando, Paris, France
- 2008 TinT Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 2008 Ionos Gallery, Karditsa, Greece
- 2005 Nees Morfes Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 2004 TinT Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 2003 Ariadne Gallery, Heracleion, Crete, Greece
- 2003 V. Mylonogiannis Gallery, Chania, Crete, Greece
- 2003 Nees Morfes Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 2002 TinT Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 2000 Nees Morfes Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 1999 Terracotta Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 1997 Nees Morfes Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 1996 Terracotta Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 1996 Anemos Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 1994 Terracotta Gallery, Thessaloniki, Greece
- 1994 Nees Morfes Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 1993 Gallery 24, Athens, Greece
- 1991 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 1989 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 1987 Medusa Art Gallery, Athens, Greece
- 1985 Gallery 7, Athens, Greece
- 1984 Gallery 7, Athens, Greece
