George Stamatakis is a Greek contemporary painter whose work explores the poetic tension between landscape, time, and material. His works often depict low horizons and vast skies, spaces where air, sea, and memory seem to merge.
Through his artistic practice, he explores the delicate interplay between humanity, nature and the inexorable forces of change, while revealing both ecological fragility and aesthetic possibility. Across his paintings, installations, and multimedia projects, he merges scientific observation, environmental awareness, and poetic contemplation, creating experiences that are simultaneously immersive, philosophical, and visually striking.
Stamatakis confronts the viewer with the beauty inherent in destruction. Fire-scorched forests, ashen mountains, and charred landscapes are transformed into contemplative spaces that evoke both melancholy and sublime pleasure. Rather than inspiring guilt, his works highlight the transience of life and the regenerative cycles of nature, echoing both Western notions of the sublime and Japanese philosophy. Stamatakis conveys loss, temporality, while merging beauty and catastrophe, balancing aesthetic contemplation with a call for environmental responsibility.
Across mediums and projects, George Stamatakis blends Eastern and Western traditions, classical and contemporary techniques, and imagination with empirical observation, transforming the viewing of art into an ethical, philosophical, and ecological encounter, one that asks viewers to reflect on what we have, what we risk losing, and how we might act to preserve the natural world.
George Stamatakis’s new solo exhibition, How Did Your Summer Drift by This Year? marks a significant evolution in his artistic practice. The show explores humanity’s impact on the planet not through guilt or environmental mourning, but through a daring aestheticization of destruction and decay.
George Stamatakis was born in Heraklion, Crete, in 1979. He graduated from the Painting department of the Athens School of Fine Arts in 2019. During his art studies, he participated in the international exchange program at Tokyo University of the Arts, in Shinji Ohmaki’s sculpture lab with a scholarship by Jasso Organization.
Stamatakis took part in the 8th and 9th Biennale of the Fine Art Schools in Greece, at the State Museum of Contemporary Art and Nikos Kessanlis Exhibition Hall. He was a member of the Elective Affinities educational program of “Documenta 14”, where he also took part as a young artist. He has participated in several group exhibitions in Greece and abroad (South Korea, UK, France, Austria, Japan).
In an interview with Greek News Agenda *, George Stamatakis shares his insights into nature’s forces, the way they shape his practice, and the beauty and melancholy of a world in flux.
Your work focuses mainly on landscape. What led you to this choice?
Painting is the dream, the magic, the surreal truth that converses with the imaginary reality of our lives in a uniquely poetic way that fascinates me more than any other visual medium.
The main reason I engage with landscape painting is that I am interested in communicating in a romantic way, one that allows me to present my contemporary concerns by placing them within a shared field of memory and anxiety, a space where each of us finds their place. The connection between landscape and my art invokes universal memory, because precisely this memory can become a common thread, and that is the great challenge of my work.
The core of my artistic practice mainly focuses on environmental issues, approached in a way that could be described as neo-romantic, aiming to awaken, not to preach — always with respect and gentleness, because what we seek in art is comfort and solace in our turbulent times.
You use various media (painting, sculpture, installation, Japanese indigo fabric dyeing, silk prints). How do you decide which technique to use each time?
Each work or thematic unit I create has its own needs. As a result, they determine the medium I use. One could say that the artwork and its meaning must be in dialogue with the medium through which it will be expressed and ultimately presented to the public.
However, the technique or aesthetic line I follow must always be me; it has to do entirely with the phase I am in as an artistic entity, as part of a process of evolution.
That is, if during a certain period I feel drawn to a more realistic depiction, then my medium will align with a narrative that resembles photography. If I am in a more minimalist period, we will see something different, but always connected to the core of my personal aesthetic identity.
You have been exposed to Japanese culture. What aspects of it do you find most interesting, in terms of both lifestyle and artistic aesthetics?
Japanese culture is fascinating when observed at its core. Personally, I feel blessed, as I was fortunate to study at the Tokyo University of the Arts as a scholarship student, gaining a comprehensive view of both contemporary and traditional Japanese art.
It is difficult to speak briefly about the culture of such a unique and culturally rich country. However, if I had to mention the main elements, the first would be economy, which I interpret as minimalism, a philosophical necessity that resonates deeply with me and my body of work.
Then comes the poetic frequency in their storytelling, the way information about an object is conveyed, always with the absence of anything unnecessary. Finally, there is ethics, a topic I could discuss for hours.
You have extensively exhibited abroad. How did this come about?
One of the main reasons I began working abroad is the nature of my work and my extroverted character. This combination, along with an insatiable curiosity, motivated me to travel, create, and represent my country in exhibitions. I move forward with focus, but also with hard work and a certain anxiety, along a path that is less ambitious than it is solitary.
Initially, I began presenting my work in Asia alongside Greece. Recently, I decided that Europe is a familiar space because I see no borders within it. Nowadays, the European art scene is much more accessible and collaborations become more likely when you are active and willing to work hard.
As far as I am concerned, I have both the opportunity and the responsibility to test myself each time within a more competitive environment although nothing guarantees my sustainability, nor does it alter the vision behind my work.
Climate change and the interaction between humans and the ecosystem seem to concern you deeply. How do you perceive the role of art in environmental or social issues?
Art must be relevant — it must speak directly to society’s soul about issues that deserve public dialogue, because it is through dialogue that positions shift, awareness grows, and familiarity develops. Today, environmental issues are so serious and, in some cases, irreversible that there is simply no time for indifference.
I don’t believe art should guilt-trip people. On the contrary, it should help them love and renegotiate their relationship with the environment. We must never forget that art always comes as a companion to console — because if art doesn’t, who will?
*Interview by Dora Trogadi
Featured photo: George Stamatakis_RUN_installation detail, 2025, mixed media, Photo by Athina Kazolea
TAGS: ARTS
