Lefteris Olympios was born in Limassol, Cyprus in 1953. He studied graphic arts at Doxiades School, Athens from 1973 to 1976 and from 1978 to 1984 painting, iconography, fresco and mosaic at the School of Fine Arts in Athens.
From 1984 to 1986 he further studied painting and sculpture at the Free Academy of Fine Arts at The Hague. In 1985 he visited Ijmuiden Kring, an artists’ community in Ijmuiden, a village close to Amsterdam. His contact with this group and especially the painter Lei Moulin was crucial for the development of his work.
In 1996 he began working on the series of works entitled “Promise” after the events of Derynia, Cyprus of the same year and the tragic death of Tasos Isaak and Solomos Solomou. “Promise” was completed in 2000 and since this series of work transcended its local dimensions, depicting the universal agony of mankind. For the next three years it was exhibited in six cities in four different countries: Portugal, Holland, Greece and Mexico.
In 1997 he participated and represented Cyprus in the 47th Venice Biennale with the series of work “Philoxenia”.
In 2012 the Byzantine and Christian Museum in Athens presented a retrospective of Olympios’ work entitled “Facing Byzantium”.
In 2014 he created a site specific work entitled “Violated Beauty” for the cathedral in the Domkerk of Utrecht. This work refers to the cultural heritage in occupied Cyprus after 1974.
In 2014 he created a site specific work entitled “Violated Beauty” for the cathedral in the Domkerk of Utrecht. This work refers to the cultural heritage occupied Cyprus after 1974.
He exhibits regularly in Cyprus, Greece and The Netherlands, and his work is included in major private and public collections.
The main series of his work are: Deposition | Shells | Filoxenia | Ichthys | Promise | Katharsis | Eleonora’s Gown | Matter of Choice | Panagies tis Omorfias | The Journey | Leontios Macheras’ Exegeses | Violated Beauty | Autobiographical | The story of Neophytos the Recluse.
Lefteris Olympios lives and works in Amsterdam.
