Danaans

Painter and sculptor Constantin Karahalios was born in Tripoli, Greece in 1923. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1947 – 1952) under Yiannis Moralis and Umv. Argyros and also attended the sculpture workshops. He continued his studies in France, where he took courses in mural painting and engraving at the École des Beaux-arts and the École Estienne in Paris (1957 – 1960). He held his first solo exhibition in 1960 in Paris, at the Galerie du Haut-Pavé.

A decisive moment in his life was his acquaintance with the art critic Michel Tapié in 1961. In the 1960s, while in France, he came in contact with the art actuel movements and gradually focused his interest on the incorporation of three-dimensional objects of everyday use into his works, produced sculptures and, at a later stage, he experimented with movement, light and electricity, in line with the contemporary kinetic art movements of that time. He also experimented with different environments. His work was presented in several solo exhibitions in France, Italy, Cyprus, Switzerland and in Athens, Greece (also in Heraklion in 1987, at the Basilica of St. Mark).

His work was presented, among others, at the Paris Salon des Réalités Nouvelles (1961, 1969, 1974), at the Salon Comparaisons (1965, 1967, 1969), at the Salon de la Jeune sculpture, (1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1971, 1972 , 1973, 1974), at the Salon de Mai (1965, 1967, 1969), at the exhibition Peintres et Sculpteurs Grecs de Paris (Paris Museum of Modern Art in 1962) at the exhibition Métaphysique de la matière (Galerie Stadler, Paris, 1964) together with Damian, Piaubert and Tàpies which caused a stir and was organized by Tàpies, at the Sculpture Triennale in Paris (1978), in New York at the tribute to Conceptual art held at the Bonino Gallery in 1970, at the Tokyo Festival of Contemporary Art in 1971, etc. In Greece, his work was presented at important group exhibitions, including the exhibition Images of Greek Art which was held at Zappeion Hall in 1979, the exhibition Contemporary Art and Tradition which organized by the National Hellenic Research Foundation in 1981, the exhibition Metamorphoses of the Modern which was held at the National Gallery – Alexandros Soutsos Museum in 1992 etc. Constantin Karahalios died in 2007. He was also a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece.