Stass Paraskos
Stass Paraskos (Greek: Στας Παράσκος; 17 March 1933 – 4 March 2014) was an artist from Cyprus, although much of his life was spent teaching and working in England.
Early life
Paraskos was born in Anaphotia, a village near the city of Larnaca, Cyprus in 1933, the second of six sons of an impoverished peasant farmer. He went to England in 1953, working first as a pot washer and waiter in the ABC Tearoom in London's Tottenham Court Road, and then moving to the city of Leeds, in the north of England to become a cook in his brother's newly opened Greek restaurant. The restaurant became a popular haunt of the local art students who encouraged Paraskos to enrol for classes at Leeds College of Art (later Leeds Arts University). Despite not having the usual entdry qualifications to start a college course, Paraskos was spotted by the college's inspirational Head of Fine Art, Harry Thubron, who allowed Paraskos to enrol without the usual entry requirements. There he became close friends with artists such as Dennis Creffield, Terry Frost and Wilhelmina Barns-Graham, with Frost and Barns-Graham persuading Paraskos to move to St Ives in Cornwall in 1959. In St Ives Paraskos shared a studio with Barns-Graham until he returned to Leeds in 1961 and began teaching at Leeds College of Art.Obscenity Trial
In 1966 Paraskos was involved in a notorious court case, which became known as the Stass Paraskos Obscenity Trial, in which it was alleged he displayed paintings that were 'lewd and obscene', in contravention of the Vagrancy Act 1838. The court case was one of a number of important legal challenges to the freedom of the arts in the 1960s and 70s, starting with the Lady Chatterley trial in 1960, and ending with the Oz magazine trial in 1971. Despite luminaries of the art world speaking in Paraskos's defence, including Sir Herbert Read and Norbert Lynton, and messages of support from Britain's Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, Paraskos lost the trial and was fined five pounds. Out of this Paraskos was invited in 1967 to take part in a group exhibition, Fantasy and Figuration, alongside Pat Douthwaite, Herbert Kitchen and Ian Dury at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. Dury was later to become a close friend as they both began teaching at Canterbury College of Art in 1970. Paraskos became the last British artist to be successfully prosecuted for obscenity under the Vagrancy Act 1838. An exhibition recreating the 1966 Leeds exhibition was staged at the Tetley Arts Centre in Leeds in 2016 to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the original exhibition and prosecution.Teaching career
Paraskos started teaching part-time at Leeds College of Art in the early 1960s after returning from St Ives in Cornwall. He also taught at Leicester Polytechnic before becoming a Lecturer in Fine Art at Canterbury College of Art. When Canterbury College of Art became Kent Institute of Art & Design, he was appointed a Senior Lecturer in Fine Art and then Head of Painting, before returning to Cyprus in 1989 to run the Cyprus College of Art with his daughter Margaret Paraskos. Using his connections in the British art world, Paraskos was able to bring a large number of well-known international artists to the College in Cyprus, including Anthony Caro, Dennis Creffield, Jennifer Durrant, Terry Frost, Clive Head, Michael Kidner, Mali Morris, Euan Uglow, Rachel Whiteread and others, as well as many hundreds of art students from Britain and elsewhere, resulting in what John Cornall, writing in The London Magazine in 1996, called the discernable influence of Cypriot elements in British art during the period.Style and influences
Paraskos's style of painting is figurative but non-naturalistic, and he uses bright colours to describe scenes which often seem rooted in his childhood in Cyprus. He is also influenced by the Byzantine church art of Cyprus, and modern masters, such as Paul Gauguin and Henri Matisse. Works include Pagan Spring in the State Gallery of Contemporary Art in Nicosia, Lovers and Romances in the Tate Gallery in London, and Bathing, in the collection of the Arts Council of England.Despite primarily being a painter, in 1992 he began work on an ambitious sculpture wall, in the village of Lempa, on the west coast of Cyprus. This wall is made of found and recycled everyday objects, and comprises a mixture of abstract and figurative forms, including a King Kong-sized gorilla, a pigmy elephant and a giant pair of welcoming hands. The wall is twenty metres long and up to four metres high, and forms a sculpture garden enclosing the studios of the Cyprus College of Art.
In his book Aphrodite : The Mythology of Cyprus the late George Thomas, 1st Viscount Tonypandy, a frequent traveller to Cyprus commented: "...Greek mythology provides an eternal fascination... Stass Paraskos, one of Cyprus' most distinguished artists provides in this book an exciting recital of the influence Greek mythology has brought to bear on Greek Cypriot development..."
Artistic career
Paraskos has exhibited in places including in Cyprus, Britain, Greece, the United States, Brazil, India, Denmark, and in 2003 was the subject of a book by the distinguished art historian Norbert Lynton, published by the Orage Press. His work is represented in the State Collections of Cyprus, the National Gallery of Greece, the Collection of the Arts Council of England, Leeds University Art Collection, Leeds City Art Gallery and the Tate Gallery (Tate Britain), London. In 2008 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by the University of Bolton for his services to art and art education.In 2017 he was the subject of a major exhibition at Pafos Art Gallery in Cyprus as part of the city's celebrations as European Capital of Culture.
Writings
Paraskos was a prolific writer, writing numerous articles, predominantly in Greek, for newspapers in Cyprus, collections of poems and books on Greek mythology, including Cyprus of Copper in 1969, and The Mythology of Cyprus in 1981.Death
Paraskos died on 4 March 2014 in Paphos, Cyprus of septicaemia caused by diabetes-related gangrene in his legs. He was 81 years old. A street in the village of Lempa, the current location of the Cyprus College of Art, has been named after him in his memory.
Stass Paraskos (family photograph)
Lovers and Romances by Stass Paraskos, 1966
Image of Stass Paraskos's Lovers and Romances, painted in 1966
Born in the village of Anaphotia, Stass was the son of a peasant farmer. In 1953, he emigrated to Leeds to work as a waiter, until a chance meeting with the charismatic art lecturer Harry Thubron led him to enrol at Leeds College of Art. There he met Terry Frost, who persuaded him to move to Cornwall and live among the artists of the St Ives school.
Returning to Leeds in 1962, he taught at various art schools. The fame created by his prosecution in 1966 led to further invitations to teach, as well as shows at major venues including the Institute of Contemporary Arts, where he exhibited in 1967 alongside Ian Dury. Three of Stass's reputedly obscene paintings were acquired by the Tate in 2006.
stass paraskos
Stass Paraskos was the last artist in England to be prosecuted under the Vagrancy Act of 1838 that had been used against DH Lawrence
One of Stass's enduring ambitions was to establish an art school in Cyprus based on what he had experienced in Britain. In 1969, this led him to found a summer school for British art students in Famagusta. Relocating to Lemba in the 1980s, it evolved into the Cyprus College of Art, with Stass as its principal.
At the same time, Stass continued to teach in Britain, becoming a senior lecturer at the Canterbury College of Art in 1970. He offered inspired teaching that created a huge amount of warmth, affection and admiration from artists and students alike.
At the heart of all this was Stass the artist, deeply rooted in the history, culture and environment of Cyprus. The everyday and sometimes tragic life of its villages and towns fills his colourful work, fused with the iconography of Cypriot folk art and the Byzantine church.
Retiring from Canterbury, Stass settled in Cyprus in 1989 with his wife, Mary, whom he had married in 1957. As well as teaching and exhibiting there, he continued to show his work abroad and represented Cyprus at the 1996 São Paulo biennial. Although he joked that he was illiterate in two languages, he was a prolific writer in Greek and English, producing poetry, articles and books on contemporary politics, as well as the history and mythology of Cyprus.
Stass is survived by Mary and their five children, Stanley, Margaret, Paul, Christopher and Michael. I leave the last word to Stass: "Like religion, art is at its best when it's a simple activity but, as in religion, simplicity can lead to the experience of something incredible."
David Haste
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds
Yellow Still Life
Cyprus Refugees
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: Artemis, ArtForms
The Embrace
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: Artemis, ArtForms
Sheep
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: Artemis, ArtForms
Bathing
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: Arts Council Collection
Clea and Justine
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: The Stanley & Audrey Burton Gallery, University of Leeds
Church and Angels
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: Artemis, ArtForms
Still Life with Fish
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: Artemis, ArtForms
Cypriot Woman Raped by Turkish Soldiers
© the artist's estate. Photo credit: Leeds Museums and Galleries
Carol and Robin Page by Stass Paraskos, oil on canvas, 1966. Courtesy of Mary Paraskos
Three Works: Figures
Symposium
Lovers
Villagers
Illegal immigrants
Villagers
A Short Film About Stass Paraskos - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Py_qAC1nypM
13 apr 2007 - Caricato da artcyprus
A film about Stass Paraskos, the artist from Cyprus and founder of the Cyprus College of Art. Stass is the ...Stass Paraskos Interview October 2013 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e1i8SCrCg8
25 ott 2013 - Caricato da artcyprus
Interview with Stass Paraskos, artist from Cyprus and founder of the Cyprus College of Art for Cyprus ...Stass Paraskos Interview Part 1 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5midsb3YhCo
16 mar 2010 - Caricato da artcyprus
First part of an interview with the artist Stass Paraskos, recorded in February 2010 for Cyprus television ...Stass Paraskos at Barry Summer School - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h64xzli249Q
23 ago 2012 - Caricato da artcyprus
Stass Paraskos, artist and founder of the Cyprus Summer School (which went on to grow into the Cyprus ...Stass Paraskos Exhibition Opening 2012 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfSvkmqb9iU
13 nov 2012 - Caricato da artcyprus
Opening of the Exhibition of New Paintings, entitled "The White Goddess" at the Apocalypse Gallery, Nicosia ...Stass Paraskos: Memories of Barry Summer School 1966 on Vimeo
https://vimeo.com › Michael Paraskos › Videos
23 ago 2012 - Caricato da Michael Paraskos
Stass Paraskos, artist and founder of the Cyprus Summer School (which went on to grow into the Cyprus ...Stass Paraskos Interview Part 2 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcGJ9vp8ATM
Second part of an interview with the artist Stass Paraskos,
recorded in February 2010 for Cyprus television channel CyCB2. Paraskos
is one of the most important artists of Cyprus, who founded the Cyprus
College of Art, and is the only Cypriot artist with work in London's Tate Gallery.
STAS PARASKOS 1933-2014 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7k2StcIvH4
7 mar 2014 - Caricato da george karageorgis
Paraskos was the founder of the Cyprus College of Art in 1969 in Famagusta but after 1974 relocated to ...Reviving the Corpse of Art - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUsKEMAAuG8
11 nov 2013 - Caricato da artcyprus
Art theorist, Dr Michael Paraskos, discusses the New Aesthetics, the connection between anarchist art theory ...Lovers & Romances, Stass Paraskos - 22 July - 9 Oct 2016 - YouTube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m54uLHrOXk4
10 ott 2016 - Caricato da Alan Rutherford
Stass Paraskos exhibition - Duration: 1:44. Twinkle Superpalm 10 views · 1:44 · Nationhood - Duration: 11 ...
Cypriot artist Stass Paraskos and founder of the Cyprus College of Art passed away on Tuesday afternoon at the age of 81 in Paphos, as it was announced by the College
Nessun commento:
Posta un commento