Eleni Nicolaou
b.1999, Larnaca, Cyprus.
Eleni Nicolaou is a visual artist currently based in Athens, Greece. From a young age, she was involved in painting and printmaking. She studied Fine Arts at the Athens School of Fine Arts, with a scholarship from the Cyprus State Scholarship Foundation (IKYK, Excellence Program), under the guidance of Dr. Erato Hadjisavva (1st to 6th year) and Marios Spiliopoulos (1st year). In October 2024, she completed her integrated master's degree (Master’s) at the Athens School of Fine Arts.
Her work is characterized by an expressionistic aesthetic and mainly focuses on mixed media and materials installations, as well as large-scale painting compositions. She uses a variety of materials in her works, such as clay, fabric, charcoal, soil, marble dust, and oil paints. Her art deals with the dark side of cultural history and the social issues arising from it.
Eleni has participated in numerous visual art exhibitions both in Greece and abroad, in important venues such as the House of Cyprus - Embassy of Cyprus in Greece, the Michalis Kakogiannis Foundation, the Mets Arts Centre, the Train at Rouf - Railway Theater, the Horizon - Center for Research, Technology, and Innovation, and the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre. She has also exhibited at the Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti in Turin, at the Greek Cultural Foundation in Stockholm, in Strasbourg for the Cypriot Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, and in Poland for the 19th International Biennale of Graphic Arts for Children and Young People.
Her installation "Hangman's Noose in Nicosia" is part of the public collection of the Ministry of Culture of Cyprus and is exhibited at the National Museum of Struggle in Nicosia. Additionally, she has participated in artistic workshops and educational conferences, such as the "Cold Wax Workshop in Batik," "Greening Dry Cleaning," "Creative Studios," and the Greece-Sweden artistic exchange program. Her works have been covered in major newspapers, including "ESTIA," "I AVGI," and "Liberal.gr."
EDUCATION
2018-2024
Integrated MA, Athens School of Fine Arts.
EXHIBITIONS
2025
CREA OPEN 2025 award "Special Mention for the Quality of Your Research" and shortlisted,
Venice, Italy.
“There’s No Place Like Home”
Michael Cacoyannis Foundation,
Athens, Greece.
2024
"Poetry and Painting Dimitris Daskalopoulos",
The House of Cyprus, the Cultural Center of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Greece,
Athens, Greece.
"Peri Zografikis II" Detections of the Abstract,
Mets Arts Centre,
Athens, Greece.
2023
"Silk&Soufli"
Grekiska Kulturhuset, Idungatan 4B,
Stockholm, Sweden.
"Ethnic Recruitment, Contemporary Portrayals 1923-2023",
18th Nafplion International Meeting, Vouletiko, Nafplio.
"Action to reduce single-use plastics in Greek dry cleaners #GreeningDryCleaning"
Horizon - Center of Research, Technology and Innovation,
Athens, Greece.
"When the times extinguished the moonlight..."
Historical Visual Processes - Smyrna
Athens, Greece.
2022
"From Zorba to The Woman in Black"
Michael Cacoyannis Foundation,
Athens, Greece.
"Siden & Soufli",
Michael Cacoyannis Foundation,
Athens, Greece.
"PIREAS ARTPORT II",
in collaboration with Michael Cacoyannis Foundation,
Athens, Greece.
"EK-PATRIDES"
To treno sto rouf,
Athens, Greece.
Platforms Project Net independent art fair ASFA OPEN STUDIOS,
13th Studio ASFA,
Athens, Greece.
2021
"Today as Tomorrow as Yesterday",
Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti di Torino,
Italy.
Platforms Project Net independent art fair ASFA OPEN STUDIOS,
13th Studio ASFA,
Athens, Greece.
2019
"Poetry and painting Titus Patrikios",
Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Athens,
Athens, Greece.
2016
"CRISIS- CHALLENGE from Cyprus to Strasbourg",
Cyprus Chairmanship of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe 2016-2017
Strasbourg, France.
2015
Children's Educational Center expo,
The Educational Centre for Children of the Nicosia Municipal Arts Centre, Associated with the Pierides Foundation (NIMAC),
Nicosia, Cyprus.
2014
"19th International Biennial Of Children’s And Young People’s Graphic Art"
Torun, Poland.
WORKSHOPS
2023
"Cold Wax Batik textiles workshop",
ASFA,
Athens, Greece.
"Greening Dry Cleaning",
ASFA,
Athens, Greece.
2022
"Creative Studios"
ASFA,
Athens, Greece.
"open dialogues"
ASFA,
Athens, Greece.
"A common thread", Artistic exchange Sweden-Greece,
ASFA,
Soufli - Athens, Greece.
2019
Educational conference of Swedish Students and Greek Students of the Athens School of Fine Arts, Soufli, Greece.
2017
Educational conference "The return of Agapinor" in the framework of the activities of the International Network "Arcadia",
Tripoli, Greece.
COLLECTIONS
The painting "LANDSCAPES" belongs to the State collection of the State Gallery and the Ministry of Culture of Cyprus.
The painting "MANES" belongs to the State collection of the State Gallery and the Ministry of Culture of Cyprus.
The installation "Gallows in Nicosia" is held at the public collection of the Deputy Ministry of Culture of Cyprus, and is exhibited at the National Museum of Struggle in Nicosia.
PUBLICATIONS / PRESS
About Painting II: Exhibition of graduates of the Athens School of Fine Arts at the Mets Arts Center, Culturenow, 2024.
"On Painting II": An exhibit that explores abstraction comes to the Mets Arts Center, Athinorama,2024.
"Returns" Unveils Attila's Invasion of Cyprus, Nektaria Maragianni, Liberal, 2024.
MESSOLONGI: Crowds of people at the opening of the art exhibition of the Athens School of Fine Arts at the CHRYSOGELOU BUILDING, Messolonginews, 2022.
Visual approaches to "Girl in Black", Nektaria Maragianni, Liberal, 2022.
"From Zorba to the Woman in Black, group art exhibition", Artviews, 2022.
"Group exhibition "From Zorba to the Woman in Black", Art and Life, 2022.
"From Zorba to the Woman in Black: Group exhibition at the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation", Culture now, 2022.
"Cross-cultural pockets of tradition protection", Lida Kazantzaki, Avgi, 2022.
"Approaching the nature of war", Nektaria Maragianni, Liberal, 2022.
"An open sea", Outdoor art exhibition of the students and graduates of the 1st, 3rd and 6th Painting Workshops of ASFA, Artviews, 2022.
Outdoor exhibition about the Asia Minor disaster in the port of Piraeus - Perimeter, on the railings, iefimerida, 2022.
100 years since the Asia Minor Disaster, the multi-active exhibition "EK-Patrides" inside a train, pontosnews, 2022.
The Multi-Active Art Exhibition "EC-Patrides" at the Train-Theatre Train on the Roof approaches concepts that preoccupy modern societies, Athinorama, 2022.
"EK-PATRIDES", Athinorama, 2022.
"Multi-active exhibition "EK-PATRIDES" on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Asia Minor Disaster", The athinai art, 2022.
"We are all potential refugees, a multitude of forms, among the classical and ancient sculptural forms, in its stances and movements, the "continuity" of the uprooted through the ages", Lida Kazantzaki, AVGI, 2022.
"The trauma of the Turkish invasion in Cyprus through contemporary art", Nektaria Maragianni, ESTIA, 2021.
"Poetry and Painting Titus Patrikios", Nektaria Maragianni, ESTIA, 2019.
"Students of the Athens School of Fine Arts discuss the poetry of Titos Patrikios", TO BHMA, 2019.
"Living cells of art", Lida Kazantzaki, AVGI, 2019.
"Poetry and Painting - Titos Patrikios" at the House of Cyprus", Anthoula Daniel, DIASTIXO, 2019.