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
Obscenity Trial
In 1966 Paraskos was involved in a notorious court case, which became known as the
The curator of a retrospective exhibition of Paraskos's work held in Leeds in 2009, Terence Jones, was quoted as saying: "Ironically the painting in question now hangs in the Tate. When you see it, you do wonder what all the fuss was about. It's quite an expressionistic piece in which you can see, just, a woman holding a man's penis, but it is extremely tame when compared to what has happened in the art world since then."[6]
Following this Paraskos was invited in 1967 to take part in a group exhibition, Fantasy and Figuration, alongside
Teaching career
Paraskos started teaching part-time at
When Canterbury College of Art was renamed Kent Institute of Art & Design, Paraskos 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.[10] Using his connections in the British art world, Paraskos was able to bring a large number of well-known international artists to the Cyprus College of Art, 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.[11]
These visits by internationally recognised artists resulted in the Cyprus College of Art being held up as one of the cultural highlights of Cyprus by several presidents of Cyprus and other government ministers during the 1970s and 1980s. However, according to Parakos's son, the art historian Michael Paraskos, Stass Paraskos believed he has deliberately snubbed by the academics at the University of Cyprus, after its foundation in 1989. Although Paraskos had received numerous assurances from Cyprus government ministers during the 1970s and 1980s that the Cyprus College of Art would form the nucleus of a new Faculty of Fine Art at the future University of Cyprus, on its creation he found himself sidelined by the new University authorities. According to Michael Paraskos, his father saw this as a personal betrayal by the government authorities, which pushed Stass Paraskos into taking an even more anti-establishment line in his art, writings and running of the Cyprus College of Art.[12]
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
According to Dominique Auzias and Jean-Paul Labourdette Paraskos's paintings 'illustrate Cypriot rural life, the tormented history of the island, love, life, death, always in a lyrical, romantic mode.'[13]
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.[14]
Paraskos was consistently a political artist, with left-wing, and later
Artistic career
Following his controversial exhibition in 1966 at the Leeds Institute Gallery, which was raided by the local police, 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.[17]
His first exhibition in Cyprus followed a year later, at the Four Lanterns Hotel in Larnaca[18] after which he exhibited regularly in galleries in both the United Kingdom and Cyprus. His published resume also lists exhibitions in Greece, the United States, Brazil, India, and Denmark.[19]
In 2003 Paraskos was the subject of a book by the art historian
In 2008 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Bolton for his services to art and art education.[20]
In 2017 he was the subject of a major exhibition at
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 Aphrodite: The Mythology of Cyprus in 1981.[22]
In the preface to Paraskos's book Aphrodite: The
Paraskos's The Mythology of Cyprus was published in Greek and Turkish translations in 2018.
Death
Paraskos died on 4 March 2014 in
See also
- Margaret Paraskos, his daughter, and an artist
References
- ^ Haste, David (28 March 2014). "Stass Paraskos obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ Panikos Panayi, Spicing up Britain: The Multicultural History of British Food (London: Reaktion Books, 2008) p. 158
- ^ Haste, David (28 March 2014). "Stass Paraskos obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
- ^ Norbert Lynton, Stass Paraskos (Mitcham: Orage Press, 2003) 7f
- ^ Benedict Read (ed.), Herbert Read: A British Vision of World Art (London: Lund Humphries, 1993) 18
- ^ Quoted in 'A ray of Cypriot sunshine who caused scandal in '60s Leeds' in The Yorkshire Post (UK newspaper), 27 February 2009
- ^ ICA, Fantasy and Figuration, exhibition cat., London, 1967, Tate Archive (London) ref. LON-INS (S.C.)
- ^ Richard Balls, Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll (London: Omnibus Press, 2001) p79 and passim.
- ^ 'Artist Stass Paraskos to be honoured at Leeds light show', in The Cyprus Mail (Cyprus newspaper), 4 September 2014
- ^ David Haste, Stass at Canterbury, in Michael Paraskos (ed), Stass Paraskos (Mitcham: Orage Press, 2009) 36f
- ^ John Cornall, 'Earth wisdom : Cypriot connections in British art : Geoffrey Rigden & Stass Paraskos' in The London Magazine, February 1996
- ^ Michael Paraskos, Stass Paraskos: A Celebration for Pafos 2017 - European City of Culture (London: Orage Press, 2017) p. 8
- ^ Dominique Auzias and Jean-Paul Labourdette, Petit Futé: Chypre (Nancy, Editions Petit Futé, 2018) p.35
- ^ John Cornall, Stass and Cypriotness, in Michael Paraskos (ed), Stass Paraskos (Mitcham: Orage Press, 2009) 16f
- ^ Michael Paraskos, Stass Paraskos: A Celebration for Pafos 2017 - European City of Culture (London: Orage Press, 2017) p.4
- ^ Quoted in Michael Paraskos, 'In Darkest Cyprus: Manifesta 6' in The Cyprus Weekly (Cyprus newspaper), 20 January 2006
- ^ ICA, Fantasy and Figuration, exhibition cat., London, 1967, Tate Archive (London) ref. LON-INS (S.C.)
- ^ Stass Paraskos's diary, published in Michael Paraskos, In Search of Sixpence (London: Orage Press, 2016) p.102
- ^ Evi Papadopoulous (ed), The Kean World of Orange (Limassol: Kean Ltd, 2009) 42
- ^ Evi Papadopoulous (ed), The Kean World of Orange (Limassol: Kean Ltd, 2009) 42
- ^ Pafos 2017: European City of Culture, Stass Paraskos: A Celebration (London: Orage Press, 2017) Weblink
- ^ Michael Paraskos, New Introduction to The Mythology of Cyprus by Stass Paraskos (London: Orage Press, 2016) p.i-iii
- ^ Preface to Stass Paraskos, Aphrodite: The Mythology of Cyprus (London: Interworld, 2000) 1f