Sotiris Sorogas was born in Athens in 1936. He studied hagiography and then post-Byzantine and folk art (thanks to a Royal Institute Scholarship in1958) at the Athens School of Fine Arts, under Moralis from 1957 to 1961. In 1971, benefitting from Ford Foundation Scholarship, he was able to travel to the USA, England, France and Italy to deepen his knowledge and appreciation of international art. He later worked as assistant professor of drawing at the Department of Architecture of the Metsoveion National University, and from 1964 to 2003 was a professor at the Architecture School of the National Technical University.
Sorogas’s art is imbued with the power of foundational humanistic themes, namely tragedy, death and the fear it inspires. This introspective journey is achieved by centring naturalistic or symbolic elements – such as rocks, apertures and degraded or rusted nautical elements – in a white, pure and ethereal backdrop. The superimposing of decay with eternal purity causes a reflective shock that is both subtle and evident.
His first exhibition experience came in 1962 when he took part in the second Panhellenic Exhibition for young artists at the Italian Institute of Athens. His first solo exhibition in Athens would take decades to materialise, however, the artist has since managed to make his mark on the city, as he has created six monumental creations that have adorned the Stathmos Larissis station of the Athens metro since 2010.
Sorogas represented Greece in various international Biennales and staple exhibitions: Sao Paulo (1981): Europalia (Belgium, 1982); the 21st International Festival of Painting (Cagnes-sur-Mer, France, 1989).
He was a founding member of the Group for Art Communication and Education and a member at the editorial board of the art theory journal, Speira. In 2004, he was recognised by the Academy of Athens for his contribution to Art.
Sorogas lives and works in Athens.
