MICHALIS MAKROULAKIS 1940 Ermoupoli, Greece

He was born in Hermoupolis (Syros) in 1940. He studied stage and costume design, and painting at the Athens Technological Institute (Doxiadis School), under Vassiliou, Tassos, Tsarouchis, Apartis, et al. He was also a student of P. Vyzantios, who urged him to get involved in painting. His first solo exhibition was presented at the Athens Art Hall in 1969. In 1971, he visits Tehran and settles there until 1978. His career started with realistic landscape paintings, mainly of Greek islands. Then, his art acquired an impressive photorealistic precision, while his themes were enriched with interiors, still lifes, and male nudes, which often allude to the classical painting of the Renaissance with many poetic, surreal or dream-like features. The painterly quality, the luminous and sensual atmosphere, the detailed descriptions and the determined emphasis on the beauty of everyday things characterize his entire oeuvre. His works, whether small or large have an intense Greek ‘colour’, but they also reveal influences by the Eastern art, especially the Persian miniatures, with which he had the opportunity to familiarize during his eight-year stay in the Iranian capital. Throughout the ‘60s he worked as a stage and costume designer, initially as assistant to Y. Tsarouchis. He also worked for the Theatro Technis Karolos Kuhn and other Athenian theatres. His exhibition activity includes solo shows in Greece, Tehran and Germany, as well as participations in several Panhellenics and other group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. In 2013, The Harmony of Images: 1956-2013, a major retrospective exhibition of 153 works was organized in Athens (B&M Theocharakis Foundation for the Fine Arts and Music). He lives and works in Athens and Syros. https://aglutinart.blogspot.com/