Charalambidis Andreas

Painter. He was born in Paphos in 1939. He studied painting in Athens, in the workshop of Kostas Iliadis, between 1957 and 1960. In 1960 he returned to Cyprus and began working as an art teacher in the high schools of Paphos. In 1975 he went to Britain, on a scholarship from the British Council, to further his studies at the University of Reading (1975-1976). He lives and works in Paphos, where, among other things, he co-directed with the artist Stas Parasko * the Summer Art School for Cypriots and foreign students (Cyprus Summer School of Art) and the Cyprus College of Art in Paphos.

Apart from painting, Andreas Charalambidis was also involved in screen printing and engraving. He also worked in the field of decoration, making murals in rooms of various large hotels.

In 1980 he represented Cyprus at the International Art Workshop of Yugoslavia, in 1981 at the New York International Biennale and in 1988 at the Baghdad Biennale. He also took part in other international exhibitions in Paris, Boston, Munich, Yugoslavia, Monte Carlo, as well as in Panhellenic exhibitions in Athens. He organized solo exhibitions of his works in Paphos, Larnaca, Nicosia, Limassol and outside Cyprus. He also took part in many group exhibitions.

Andreas Charalambidis's painting is distinguished for its interiority and expressive richness, the often indefinite space and the intense poetic mood. The artist draws his themes mainly from the very rich past of the place, where one meets the ancient myths in symbiosis with the Byzantine tradition and the folk art. According to Professor Chrysanthos Christou, "color for Charalambidis becomes the decisive body of his language painting, as he removes the outlines of the figures, integrates them in the space and submits a number of expressive extensions ... Now his painting moves in the atmosphere of a purely personal expressionism, with a more Mediterranean character ... ».