Jannis Varelas Greece, b. 1977

Jannis Varelas was born in Athens in 1977. He lives and works between Athens, Vienna, and Los Angeles.

He studied at the School of Fine Arts in his hometown and at the University of Fine Arts of Barcelona, and later graduated from the Royal College of Art in London.

Varelas’s artistic process begins with the construction of a set in which he places his models. He photographs and films them, and from these records—which allow him to observe the figures across different media—he develops his paintings, in which he fuses elements of fantasy and reality. The psychological landscape he creates emerges through experimentation across various media and the extreme use of gesture and mark‑making.

Varelas has exhibited at institutions and galleries such as Kunsthalle Athena, the Benaki Museum, the Onassis Cultural Center, and The Breeder in Athens; the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati; Krinzinger Gallery in Vienna; and Galerie Forsblom in Helsinki, among others. His works are held in collections including the Belvedere Museum, Vienna; the Saatchi Collection, London; the Dakis Joannou Collection, Athens; the Zabludowicz Collection, London; The Onassis Foundation Collection, New York; and The Hort Family Collection, New York.