He goes by the simple name Fikos, he is 27 years old and his artwork decorates the walls of state buildings in Europe. But it doesn’t end there, his fame also goes beyond the Atlantic. Fikos who was born and lives in Athens, started painting and studying Byzantine art at the age of 13. Five years later he started painting Greek Orthodox church walls, while developing his own style. He is a Christian Orthodox and believes that God means love. He often paints religious themes, but doesn’t want to be called a hagiographer. His artwork resembles old Byzantine art and some say that his style is similar to that of hagiographer Dimitrios Kontoglou. His most recent work decorates the walls of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. The esteemed university is known for having a total of 21 Nobel Prizes from teachers and students, one of them being Albert Einstein. The institute recognized Fikos talent and commissioned him to create several murals in its buildings, combining Byzantine art and physics. Speaking to e-typos.com, Fikos said, “I believe that the particular project honors Greece during this difficult period, but it is also a piece of street art that is so popular these days.” However, he believes that art should be timeless and touch on universal themes. He thinks that graffiti artists who make social or political comments are “gossiping through painting” and their art is not “revolutionary.”
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