Odysseus Yakoumakis ( el, Οδυσσέας Γιακουμάκης; born 1956) is a Stuckist artist, painter and illustrator, based in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. He is the founder of the first Greek Stuckist group, The Romantic Anonymous Fellowship, and organiser of the first international Stuckist group show in Greece, ''Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity''."Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity"
/ref> He was a scheduled speaker at the first Stuckist international symposium, ''

The Triumph of Stuckism ''The'' () is a grammatical Article (grammar), article in English language, English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite ...

'', in England.John, Naive (2006
"The Triumph of Stuckism Symposium"
Accessed May 6, 2006 He practises martial arts and he is currently studying traditional engraving.

Life and art

Michael Odysseus Yakoumakis was born in

. He studied

painting Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

at the "Scuola Libera del Nudo" of the

Accademia di Belle Arti This is a list of the tertiary-level schools or academies of fine art in Italy that are recognised by the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, the Italian ministry of higher education. Accademie di Belle Arti The offic ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and obtained Laurea in Geological Science, from the university of the same city."Laurea is the Italian tertiary degree, between BSc and MSc. He gained a post-graduate diploma in Computer Science from the Institute of Informatics of EL.KE.PA. (Hellenic Centre for the Enhancement of Productivity),

. He also completed free studies in Sumi-e and traditional

Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as ''guó huà'' (), meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western style ...

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

, artistic book-binding and

Graphics Design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

(this last at the Athens Technological Education Institute). He worked at various parts of the globe, in parallel as an engineering geologist, systems engineer and visual artist. From 2003 he has focused exclusively on the Visual Arts and settled down at

where he works as a painter, illustrator and writer of fantasy-fiction, graphics designer and Visual Arts instructor. His art has been shown in solo shows in Athens and group exhibitions in Athens, Montreal, Nicosia, London, Rome, Hamburg, Liverpool and Florence. His artistic oeuvre aims "to express ideas, ideals and feelings and to convey messages at the personal, social, political, philosophical and mystic levels". He contrasts the

Post-modern Postmodernism is an intellectual stance or mode of discourseNuyen, A.T., 1992. The Role of Rhetorical Devices in Postmodernist Discourse. Philosophy & Rhetoric, pp.183–194. characterized by skepticism toward the " grand narratives" of moderni ...

era with what he describes as "older, perhaps much happier and certainly more interesting times". He has increasingly used anthropocentric subject matter and a more minimalist use of a vocabulary of mythological symbols drawn from "ancient traditions of the Earth" and from his own subconscious," in a satire of "life-style", "technology", "anti-art", "economic power" and "wealth". His nostalgia is obsessive. His style combines elements from the schools of the Italian

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...

, the Flemish and German “Primitives”, the Japanese Sumi-e and the Chinese Gonbi and Xieyi, the movements of figurative

Expressionism Expressionism is a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Northern Europe around the beginning of the 20th century. Its typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it rad ...

and

Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to l ...

, and from certain genres of European comics. He divides his current oeuvre into "Principal", "Expressionistic" and "Japanistic".

Previous projects

Yakoumakis was one of the featured artists exhibiting in
The Triumph of Stuckism
, an exhibition of new Stuckist paintings curated by

Naive John Naive John (born Ian Wylie; 18 October 1962) is a British artist and figurative painter. His work shows attention to detail with subjects that combine elements from popular culture alongside the mythic and mundane. He has also in the past been ...

, as part of the 2006

Liverpool Biennial Liverpool Biennial is the largest international contemporary art festival in the United Kingdom. Every two years, the city of Liverpool hosts an extensive range of artworks, projects, and a programme of events. The biennial commissions leading ...

. He is also billed as one of the speakers at the accompanying International Symposium at

Liverpool John Moores University , mottoeng = Fortune favours the bold , established = 1823 – Liverpool Mechanics' School of Arts1992 – Liverpool John Moores University , type = Public , endowment = , coor ...

in October 2006.

Current projects

Yakoumakis is currently curating ''Under the Cover of Romantic Anonymity'', an international Stuckists group show in

, billed for May 1 - May 14 of 2010 at the
Ash-In-Art
Gallery. Stuckist artists taking part include Yakoumakis himself,
Ilania AbileahANTHEIan J. Burkett
Guest artists participating ar

Lefteris Yakoumakis, Vasilis Selimas, and Nickos Delijannis. In parallel with the show, the new book by Odysseus Yakoumakis will be featured, titled "Leaflets from the Wilderness (a case study about the artscape in nouveau-Greece and many other lands)"
Ash-In-Art
Publications). Yakoumakis is currently writing and illustrating two series of fantasy-fiction novels and graphic novels, "The Chronicles of the Archipelago" and "The Chronicles of the West". The first book of the "Chronicles of the Archipelago", titled "The Gift of Cannon", is expected to be published by
Ash-In-Art
Publications in September 2010. The launching of the book will be combined with a show of its major illustration panels, which have been implemented by Yakoumakis as paintings, at the
Ash-In-Art
Gallery,

. English and Italian publications of all the above-mentioned books will be attempted from 2011 and on.

Footnotes

References

Odysseus Yakoumakis, "A Romantic & Anonymous (nonetheless signed) Critique of Post Modernism"
*Milner, Frank ed. (2004), "The Stuckists Punk Victorian" National Museums Liverpool,

External links