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Alekos Fassianos was born in Athens in 1935. He studied at the School of Fine Arts in Athens between 1956 and 1960. Since 1960 he has based himself in Paris; in 1962 he was awarded a two year grant by the French Government. He has had individual exhibitions in Athens (Zygos Gallery, 1961 and 1963; Hilton. 1963), Salonica (1966) and Paris (3+2, 1967; Gallerie Paul Facchetti 1969). He has also taken part in various group exhibitions, including the San Francisco Pantechnicon in 1963, the SWEA in Stockholm in 1965, the Menton Bienalle in 1968 and the Basle International Art Fair last year. Paintings and lithographs by him are at present on permanent view at the Gallerie Facchetti in Paris.

     About the problems of the artist, Alekos Fassianos writes as follows: “An artist has no problems beyond those provoked by his excessive sensitivity. He always moves outside his epoch, insensible to technological development and egotistically sensitive.

     It is not true that the artist comes to terms with his epoch. Opportunistic artists claim to “represent their times”, and are frequently praised by critics for “expressing the anguish of their epoch”.

     Therein, however, lies the mistake, since the artist is a creator who, in a previously empty space, conjures up something with no previous existence, but which will continue to exist if it has any intrinsic value; that he never expresses his epoch is shown by the fact that most major artists were incomprehensible to their contemporaries. Their creations went beyond both aesthetic theory and technical achievements.

     What influence did developments such as the steam engine or the motorcar have on Van Gogh or Modigliani? Why, therefore, should the exploration of space, to take a random example, be expected to influence the consciousness of today’s artist? I believe that the artist neither expresses nor wants to express anything, not even himself. He is an incomprehensible lunatic who sees visions which, unable to interpret, he tries to recreate in an attempt to conquer them.”

Poster for the Fassianos' exhibition in Paris in 1969 - lithograph