M HKA Ensembles

1926 - 2013

Born in Laconia (GR), died in New York (US).

Stephen Antonakos

In 1930 Stephen Antonakos settles in New York with his family. He is self-taught and has practiced painting from a young age. In 1947 he enrolls himself in Brooklyn Community College’s art department. From the end of the Forties, apart from painting he also practices collage. From the Fifties, he creates constructions and assemblages from everyday, discarded materials, cloth etc. In the early Sixties he introduces the neon light into his work, a material which will become the most characteristic element of his career from now on. Initially, his neon works are associated with the realm of minimalist art. They develop into strict geometrical forms and sometimes the neon tubes are combined with materials such as wood and metal. Subsequently he begins to design installations on a large scale, for specific architectural spaces, or he uses neon as a means of intervention on architectural spaces and the natural environment. He realizes many commissions for public spaces. In 1973 he constructs the first of his series of Rooms at the San Francisco Museum of Art.

In 1980 he begins his series of wall-mounted canvases with neon tubes. He often replaces the painted canvas with square wooden frames, “clothed” in sheets of silver, gold or aluminum, thus creating a particularly mysterious atmosphere due to the ambient light which emanates from them and dematerializes the material status of the work. The works of this period show a deep spirituality and a turn towards the memories of familiar places and faces. From the mid-Eighties especially, he is also influenced by his frequent visits to Greece, his works acquiring references from Byzantine tradition and art. From the beginning of the Nineties he presents a series of chapels which function with the same logic as the Rooms series.

He has presented his work internationally in numerous solo and group exhibitions (Documenta, Kassel, 1977, Sao Paulo Biennale, 1987, Venice Biennale, 1997, Stephen Antonakos: A Retrospective, J.F. Costopoulos Foundation, Benaki Museum, Athens, 2007 et al.).