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.
Life
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