Stelios Markatatis was born in 1931 in Heraklion, Crete. In 1957 he graduated from the Parson’s School of Design in New York. He then taught drawing, painting and ceramics in community education centres and in 1981 he established the art workshops of Alikarnassos prison in Crete. He also engaged in literature and as a director he worked in important theatrical productions.

He was a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece. He held solo exhibitions all over Crete and participated in group exhibitions in Crete, Athens and Cyprus. Stelios Markatatis died in Heraklion in 2002.