Alexis

Alexis, a.ka. Constantin Alexiades, was born in Piraeus. He is an architect and painter.

He attended the First High School of Piraeus and graduated from the First High School of Athens (Plaka). His first painting teachers were the painters Gavrielides, Kokkinos and Joseph Chatzipavlis (his uncle, a painter and set designer). He next studied economics at the Athens University of economics and business, and graduated in 1971.

A trip to Paris in 1973 awakened his old passions for Architecture and Painting. So in 1974, he moved to Paris and began his studies at E.N.S.B.A. (Ecole Nationale Superieure Des Beaux Arts). In 1979, he received his diploma in Architecture (Architecte D.P.L.G.). While studying architecture he also attended workshops in "Arts Plastiques" (painting, sculpture) with teachers such as Carrade, Marchandour, Corbato and Dalla Valee. During his time as a student (1974-1979) he was also professionally engaged in painting (mainly watercolour paintings and pastel portraits), working at the Place du Tertre. His watercolour paintings and portraits from this period already belong to private collections across the world.

He has travelled for business to Europe and America (London, Munich, Stuttgart, Ulm, Basel, Aachen, Cologne, Oslo, Chicago), which has helped him to expand his knowledge and experiences. He worked for many years (1982-1995) as a senior executive in large engineering construction companies. In 1995 and 1996 he worked as architect consultants on various projects including establishing an Art Centre in a large municipality of Attica, Greece.

Upon his return to Athens, he rekindled his relationship with art, and especially painting. In painting he seeks new techniques and materials through an (inevitably) personal style, but he avoids - as much as possible - the "standardization" of expression (means - materials - mold - color). He believes that labeling art with conventional terms (-isms) is useless because the role of art in shaping the civilized man is more broad and more meaningful.

He respects and admires many painters from the past such as Nicolas de Stael, Paul Cezanne, Yannis Tsarouchis,Yannis Moralis.

His work has appeared in the following galleries and shops of art in Attica, Greece: N. Rodopoulos (Gallery "Syllogi") - Glyfada, G. & S. Kapsioti - Piraeus, A. Sazaklis ("Zygos") - Maroussi - Pefki, F. & B. Katsikas ("Aigokeros") - Heliopolis, S. Kavallieratou ("Oltos') - P. Faliro and T. Kostopoulos - A. Glyfada.

Today, after an absence of several years, mainly due to his employment as an Architect, he devotes himself to painting again. This last year - with new tools provided by digital technology - Alexis focuses again on his favorite themes (mostly Greek landscapes ) directly on the screen of the PC. He works mainly through his imagination or memory of the splendid landscapes of his beloved country, using a variety of digital painting software.