Nikos Angelidis was born in Athens. He was educated at The School of Fine Arts, Athens from 1977 to 1982, where he studied painting under Panaghiotis Tetsis, and attended courses in icon painting and fresco.

Angelidis painted his first picture in 1963. “I was five years old, and had watched fire engines in a street parade in Athens. I ran home and painted a picture of the scene.” For most children, that visually exciting event would instil a wish to become a fireman, but for Nikos it was the catalyst that made him want to become a painter.

That inner need to express himself visually was resolved at Athens School of Fine art. There he was taught and inspired by Panghiotis Tetsis, one of the finest figurative painters in Greece. Nicos was also introduced to the ideas and techniques of fresco and icon painting, reflected in much of his work today.

Angelidis still lives and works in Athens, depicting images from childhood memories and stories, blending them with adult perceptions of narratives from poetry, myths, symbols and legends. “I shape the blend, as one does with a large piece of dough, breaking it into small parts – each with its own life, its own context to communicate.”

The blend is transformed on his canvases, merging with elements from personal experiences and dreams, creating filmic flashback images.

Not for nothing, does he describe himself as “a director of images” using them as a vocabulary to share with the viewers on their voyage through time – a voyage of discovery.

They are the archetypal symbols and allegories of Paradise before the expulsion of Adam and Eve, while the charm of innocence still prevailed. Derived from the deep well of our collective memories, they create a curiously haunting sensation of déjà vu.

We are taken to a place where reality is transformed into dreams. He dives into the depths of the human psyche, seeking out what he describes as “the hidden treasures of the human soul”. These are paintings full of mystery, with many levels of meaning. They are the work of an artist at peace with himself, a peace that transmits across to the restless eye of the viewer.