Giannis Bouteas was born in Kalamata in 1941. He studied engraving at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1959 – 1964) under Kostas Grammatopoulos. On a scholarship granted by the State Scholarships Foundation (I.K.Y.), he continued his studies at the École des Beaux-arts in Paris (1966 – 1970) where he lived and worked for a decade (1972 – 1982).

He has presented his work (engraving, sculpture, installations), in solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad and has participated in international events including the Salons des Comparaisons (1974), the Salon Grands et jeunes d’aujourd’hui (1974, 1975), the Salon de Mai (1977), the Avanguardia e Sperimentazione in Modena and Venice (1978), the Sao Paulo Biennale (1981) and the Venice Biennale (1990), the Athens by art (2004), etc. He is a member of the group Processus – Systèmes and of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece.