JOHN BIZAS

John Bizas was born on the island of Chios in Greece. As a youngster he was drawn to the fine arts and quickly began to focus on sculpture. He graduated from the Fine Arts Academy of Carrara, and has worked for Damien Hirst, Jan Fabre, Louise Bourgeois and many more famous artists.

Currently he sculpts in marble and has developed his own techniques and approaches to working with stone. The 2008 finds him expanding out of Greece and he founded a studio in Pietrasanta Italy. He now has additional studios in Chios, Greece and Washington, DC.

He participates regularly in exhibitions in Europe and the US and has pieces in private collections all over the world. In 2015 one of his sculptures was chosen as one of the Top 10 contemporary artworks of the year and was exhibited at the Art Fair of Cologne in Germany.

John’s traditional fine arts background creates a strong aesthetic and technical foundation that allows him to explore and push the physical and visual boundaries of his subject material.

His approach gives equal significance to both the space occupied by the stone and the piece’s negative space that adds an inter-dimensionality to his work. Thematically, his work makes the viewer confront the complex and compelling issues facing the contemporary world.

Artist’s statement:

Much of my art is intended to bring attention to the more painful and destructive elements of contemporary civilization. My work is generally executed in marble, but I also combine stone with composite or other materials. Part of my stylistic and technical approach is to exploit and uncover the creative and physical possibilities embedded in the different materials.

My work is a response to the unparalleled explosion in the technological, material and economic sophistication and complexity of human life. This transformation has come at a high price. The costs are evident in the economic inequality, environmental destruction and the ongoing tragedy of permanent war, in our global village.

While I realize our situation is precarious, my hope is that by having to confront the difficult issues presented in my work, the viewer will be inspired to think about and act to create a better world.