Windows 98B

Michalis Katzourakis was born in 1933 in Alexandria and settled with his family in Athens in 1938. At a very young age he attended classes in the workshop of Th. In 1951 he went to Paris, where he studied painting with André Lhote, drawing at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière and poster composition with Paul Colin (1952-1955). Returning to Athens, he had his first solo exhibition (1955, Paine), and began sculpture classes at the Athens School of Fine Arts with M. Tombros (1955-58). He worked as a freelance graphic artist and in 1960-1967 he was an artistic adviser to the Greek National Tourism Organisation. In 1962 he founded the Athens Advertising Centre "K&K" with Freddy Carabott and in 1965 he was awarded the Golden Cross of the Order of the Phoenix for his contribution to Greek design. In 1976 he participated in the group "Processes-Systems", and from the following year he moved on to large-scale projects, using multiple media and a variety of materials. He moved in the same direction in the field of design, which occupied him alongside his main artistic work. In subsequent phases of his work he presented other aspects of his work, referring either to purely pictorial pursuits or to the relationship between art and the everyday environment, with two- or three-dimensional constructions, wall-mounted or installed in space.