Elias Papailiakis was born in Crete in 1970. He lives and works in ATHENS. He studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1990-1996).
In 1998 he was awarded the 1st prize of the Giannis and Zois Spyropoulou Foundation. In 1999 he participated in the Biennale of Youth of the Mediterranean countries. In 2001 he represented Greece at the 49th Venice Biennale. In 2001, the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art organized a retrospective exhibition of his works from the period 1998-2001. In 2009, the Foundation for Greek Culture in Berlin organized an exhibition of his works, belonging to German collections. In 2013 he was nominated for the DESTE award. In 2017 he participated in documenta 14. In 2018 he participated in the 6th Athens Biennale. In 2020, the Gallery of the Municipality of Athens hosted his exhibition, “Theoretical objects: Works 2017-2020”. In 2021, in collaboration with the Municipality of Athens and the Onassis Foundation, he painted the mural in Avdi Square entitled The Kiss.
He has written introductory and critical notes for solo and group exhibitions and has curated individual and group presentations by artists.
He has lectured on his work and participated in public debates on contemporary art issues.
He has presented his work in 27 solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad as well as in more than 100 group exhibitions.
He taught at the Department of Architecture of the University of Patras as a lecturer for 13 semesters from 2009 to 2019.
His works are in public and private collections in Greece and abroad.
- EMST Collection
- MOMus Collection
- Collection of the Bank of Greece
- ALPHA BANK Collection
- Onassis Foundation Collection
- Fondazione Morra Greco (Italy)
- Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum for Gegenwart – Berlin (Germany)
- Kunst Sammlungen Chemnitz (Germany)