User:Happywriter-PZ/sandbox

Kostas Zimarakis, 1939-2016,
was a painter born on the island of Chios, Greece. He devoted himself to figurative and abstract painting and the vivid light and colors of the Aegean. At 18, he came to New York where he studied at the school of Visual Arts. He was pursuing a career in graphic design and considered himself a Sunday painter when he met the New York abstract expressionist Aristodimos Kaldis, who recognised his talent and urged him to pursue painting.

Zimarakis was mentored early in his career by Kaldis but was mostly self-taught. He lived and breathed painting in his Manhattan studio. He vigorously studied the elements of painting and spent a lifetime in museums studying and drawing from the great masters. He was foremost a colonist, in his mastery of color is reflected throughout his work. The powerful, vibrant colours in his art often reflect his childhood memories and the nostalgia he felt for his island.

Zimarakis realised his dream of being a painter. He gave and continues to give enormous pleasure to viewers of his work, whose souls he wanted so much to uplift.

Quotes by Kostas Zimarakis
"Blue is my favourite color. This is because I left Greece when I was eighteen and so until eighteen, I was living in Chios were 95% of the colors I was observing were of the sea, the sky and open spaces... I haven't lost my island. I try to bring the thing that I love."

"I never try to paint my dreams - a lot of people do that. Nevertheless, it is my feeling and my moods from my dreams that you can see in my paintings. The colours, the happiness, it's all there"

"You can't mix art with religion or politics... I belong to that school which always believes in beauty. I don't want to see suffering and misery. I know it exists, but I don't want to see it. If I'm going to depict misery, how am I going to uplift the soul of the viewer, whoever looks at my work, to feel that his soul is uplifted somehow. That is what I want to do."

"I listen to music, because that lifts my soul. I read poetry, because that lifts my soul. I look at paintings, because that lifts my soul."

"The Greek islands are my favorite place in the world. They are so different between them, the architecture is different, the food is different, the people are different, although they're so near to one another. It's like dreaming when you are there, that is how I feel when I'm there."