Alekos Fassianos was born in Athens in 1935. The artist’s style reflects the intellectual influence of his mother, a passionate philologist, who encouraged her son to engage with Ancient Greek culture and the French language from a very early age. Galvanised by this enriching upbringing, Fassianos attended the Athens Conservatory to study violin while concurrently training as a painter at the Fine Arts School from 1956 to1960 under Yiánnis Móralis. In 1960, the Francophile moved to Paris to further his education, studying lithographic technique at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts.
In Paris, he mingled with the intellectual figures of the time and became a creative force of his own. The likes of Louis Aragon and Jean-Marie Drot commented on and assessed his paintings, and theatre became a big part of his practice. Fassianos created set designs for renowned institutions and developed a more private shadow theatre project, which was eventually presented in 1983 at the Centre Georges-Pompidou. In parallel, he produced numerous prestigious books now widely sought out by collectors. Fassianos’ adoption by the French capital was was sealed and illustrated by the number of shows organised and exhibitions housed in Paris.
Fassianos’ work was also strongly supported by his native Athens, with several of his creations visible in its streets. One work composed of two monumental murals, Le Mythe de mon quartier, adorn the Metaxourgeio subway station; a huge fresco constitutes the centre piece of the Hotel Electra Metropolis’ lobby; a sculpture also stands before the entrance of the Saint-Irène church. From 1990 to 1995, Fassianos collaborated with architect Kyriakos Krokos on the remodelling of a 1970s building in the city centre into a hybrid habitation and cultural space that would become the Fassianos museum.
Fassianos’ childhood devotion for his cultural heritage manifests itself in his work. Archaic motifs populate his paintings. The figures are flat, two-dimensional and mostly seen from the side – as if they had been lifted off an ancient amphora or vase and transferred into this new artistic setting. The archaic aesthetic is accentuated by the painter’s common use of light tone outline (yellow, orange and white) that give the impression of drawings having been etched in clay or terracotta. Alongside these profiles are magical beasts, a plethora of birds and vast ethereal landscapes. All these elements construct the modern myth that defines Fassianos’ painting – the necessary escape from the prison of reality.
His corpus travelled around the world, stopping in Athens, Paris, London, Geneva, Dubai, Russia, Tokyo, New York, Sao Paulo, Stockholm, Malmö, Venice, Berlin, and Melbourne. In 2009, Fassianos was made an honorary member of Russia’s Fine-Arts Academy, but it is in France, his second home, where he has accumulated the most distinctions throughout the years. In 1985, he was made Chevalier des Arts et Lettres. The next year, he was decorated as Officier des Arts et Lettres. In 2013, he became Officier de la légion d’honneur. Finally, in 2020, he was named Commandeur de l’ordre des Arts et Lettres.
Fassianos passed away in January 2022.
