“I am grateful to my migrant parents who allowed me to follow my dream.”
With those words, SA artist George Linou paid tribute to his Greek open-minded parents who unlike many migrants, respected and encouraged their son to follow his dream of becoming an artist.
Born in Adelaide in 1959 to Greek-Cyprian parents Evanthia and Andreas who migrated to Australia in 1952, George showed early signs of wanting to dedicate his life to painting.
“I started to draw at the age 12. As a young Greek Cypriot boy, I was always excited to go on building sites with my father and help him build as I was fascinated with Australian architecture.
“I slowly developed my skills over the years by doing short art courses, while working full time. Then I decided to take my art seriously,” Mr Linou told Neos Kosmos.
George graduated from arts school in the 1990s and since then he has painted various commissions and been involved in group exhibitions.
His mother was from Aradipou, Cyprus. She had six children and supported George with his artwork encouraging him to draw but also uphold a stable job. George’s father died in 1997. He was also from Aradipou, and as a bricklayer he built many structures in Adelaide and Australia, which influenced George’s construction of architectural paintings.
Mr Linou has a Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts and Design from Adelaide Centre for the Arts.
The 63-year-old artist is highly skilled in printmaking and his artisan is crafting images from lino, rubber and wood cuts.
His commissioned work commemorating the 40th anniversary of Adelaide’s annual City-Bay race in 2001 was expanded onto the sides of buses and trams. Linos has also exhibited in group exhibitions and appeared in art publications.
Other works include painting the Pichi Richi Marathon, trade union works, sporting legends, portraits and landscapes.
“I now work part-time, which allows me free time to develop my arts practice,” said the 63-year-old artist who currently has some of his art displayed at the Hutt Street Library, part of the Amber Light Over Adelaide exhibition.
“In this exhibition I have been re-imagining how I interpret Adelaide’s heritage architecture and how the landscape has been transformed by the contemporary structures surrounding them. I have noticed that the outsides of the heritage buildings are becoming social gathering spaces and an alfresco atmosphere is being created across the city. The scenes are painted in the cast of a sunset glow, as the light at that time of the day has a beautiful amber glow to it,” he concluded.
To view George’s artwork, visit his website: www.georgelinou-artist.com