Stratos was born in France, the chosen home land of his Greek grandfather - who was a tailor - in the Provencal town of Avignon. It was for France that his father, a baker, fought during the war. Stratos was lucky enough to be spared and protected from the aggressiveness of human nature. Despite his youth, he was already looking ahead to future joys, drawing inspiration from the Mediterranean of his ancestors and the beauties of Provence.

At the age of 14, he was involved in an architect’s office, and had already developed a close relationship with the artistic world. This relationship was to arouse his awareness for the aesthetic. With some of his most personal sketches and drawings, which he signed under his second name Athanas, he was to develop his talent and creativity.

His enthusiasm for life pushes Stratos to seek a connexion with others, exchange, and personal expression. What does it mean to be Stratos ? It means wanting more, searching for that which is difficult, a permanent challenge. It was in this state of mind, at a decisive moment of his life that he decided to enter the Paris-Dakar motor race. A journey of initiation and revelation.
We are now in 1983, he has returned serene and is ready to answer the calling, or perhaps it is even a need,
to embark on the adventure of “Art” with a capital A. Follows the daily discovery of creativity and so is born the creator of shapes and forms, the assembler of colours. He dares sculpture remembering the black panther of his childhood fairground that had so awed him by its shape and allure. He creates his own artistic space, gives it strength and volume and in this way creates the tension that is the very source of the vitality that generates his energy.
 
From that moment, Stratos with all his enthusiasm feverishly starts creating shapes. He avoids the temptation

And the outsider’s view in all of this; not easy when you are alone, unknown and innovating. In these conditions to exhibit one’s art is to expose oneself. Therefore in 1993 he chooses Nimes as a test-bed for presenting his paintings and they don’t fail to surprise the public by their originality.
Always the man for a challenge Stratos chooses St Paul de Vence, a town famed for its artists, to showcase
his work. We are in 1995, Stratos is a success and has gained the appreciation of a new but already faithful following. However his idealism and his need to create are not compatible with the comfort of this success, so he moves on ! The true artist that he is advances, certain of his convictions, frees himself from the routine and breaks away. He is unconditionally supported through wind and hail by his wife Brigitte.

“I am inclined to contradiction” admits Stratos though he adds “in a good way”. The key to his hedonistic approach to his art is his taste for that which gives pleasure to the eye and which brings joy to life.

Painting, sculpture … sculpture, painting … with each creation he is reborn and has vanquished the difficulties that await a creator. We are in 2003 and with his stainless steel sculptures he reaches for the sky and defies time. All these imagined shapes that bring shadows to life and colour our lives are like a shimmering dream.

Yves TERZIEN