Nikos Zachariadis

I have been working with images all my professional and personal life, as a film critic, as a journalist / comedy / satire writer, as a director in most of the major Greek magazines and lately as a political comic creator in a Greek newspaper. My paintings reflect an extension of my ironic satirical style, where reality is approached in a twisted, out-of-the-box, way.
Pictograms, or contemporary hieroglyphics, as I call them, are a global language, based on stereotypes. A language with no edges, no hidden meanings that creates a quiet, parallel universe around us. So it seemed like a perfect opportunity to work with them in a more provocative way. Trying to explore the real “thoughts” and the true intentions of those faceless creatures that represent humanity in the most symbolic way. Playing the “what if” game, as if these icons have a secret life of their own. What if they had the same thoughts, the same fears or the same anxieties as the beings they are supposed to embody?
The result of this concept is a playful, ironic and sometimes bitter series of paintings. Hand crafted – not digitally created - so they can preserve the beauty of human imperfection.
I live and work in Athens, Greece, and I have published two books of a...