Paul Giovanopoulos

(1939 -   )
BIOGRAPHY

Paul Giovanopoulos' artwork is defined by complex investigation of simple objects. His original vision involved a carefully composed repetitive grid of panels as the base of a painting. Giovanopoulos then interpreted each panel, transforming the object within through "visual signatures" from art history, cultural icons and concept. In making art this way, he became at once creator, collector and curator of each canvas.

Continuing this idea of transformation, Giovanopoulos has gone on to create large single image paintings that involve a similar thought process. By melding the aforementioned interpretive elements into one visual, he conveys a disconcerting sense of familiar and unknown, anarchy and order. His sense of visual mischief has also led Giovanopoulos to create a series of Group paintings, wherein real people throughout history, be they famous or notorious, celebrated or reviled, are surrealistically combined in one canvas. Intellectually, these groups are impossible, but Giovanopoulos not only makes them work, he makes it all seem perfectly logical. After all, who better to play poker with Ghandi than da Vinci?

Even as his work sometimes borders on chaotic, Giovanopoulos maintains a firm hand on the overall visual rhythm. The paintings combine master draftsmanship with tireless invention in a dry humor that stands back from academic painting and, essentially, draws a mustache on it.

Although the wit in Giovanopoulos' work is sometimes caustic, his use of appropriation is never grim. Rather, it is about the joy of looking, seeing and thinking, and the luxury of many solutions to one problem.

Other information:

1939    Born in Kastoria, Greece
1961 U.S. Citizenship

 Education

1958-59 New York University Dept. of Fine Arts (Tuition Scholarship)
1959-61 School of Visual Arts, New York, NY

Solo Exhibitions

1964 Larcada Gallery, New York, NY
1965 Lacarda Gallery, New York, NY
1967 Lacarda Gallery, New York, NY
1984 Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
1986 Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
1987 Hokin Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
1988 Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
1989 Hokin Kaufman Gallery, Chicago, IL
1990 Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
1992 Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
1993 Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
Hokin Gallery, Palm Beach, FL
1994 Barbara Scott Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL
Louis K. Meisel Gallery
Architrove, Inc., East Hampton, NY
1995 "Food for Thought," Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
1996  The Butler Institute of American Art,  Warren Ohio
 Jaffe Baker Gallery, Boca Raton,  FL
1997 "Paul Giovanopoulos: Important Paintings, 1985-1995"
David Klein Gallery, Birmingham, MI
Louis K. Meisel Gallery, New York, NY
1999 Elaine Baker Gallery, Boca Raton, FL
2000 Galerie Wagner, Switzerland

Public Collections

Library of Congress, Washington, DC
School of Visual Arts, New York, NY
New York University, New York, NY
The Kerlan Collection of the University of Minnesota, MN
Museum of the City of New York, New York, NY
Playboy Magazine Collection, Chicago, IL
Butler Institute of American Art, Youngstown, OH
Joslyn Art Museum, Omaha, NE
Einstein College of Medicine, New York, NY
Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
University of Texas, Austin, TX
American Institute of Physics, New York, NY
Housatonic Museum of Art, Bridgeport, CT
Pace University, New York, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY
New School for Social Research, New York, NY
Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
Guild Hall Museum, East Hampton, NY
Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
Reflex Miniature Museum of Contemporary Art, Amsterdam, Holland
Museo de las Americas, Santa Fe, NM
Bryn Mawr College Art Collections, Bryn Mawr, PA
Rosemont College, Rosemont, PA
Nassau County Museum of Art, Roslyn Harbor, NY
Vorres Museum of Contemporary Greek Art, Paiania, Greece