Christos Dikeakos is a Canadian artist of Greek origin. Born in 1946 in Thessaloniki, where his father was working as an engineer at Ifanet industry, he moved to Vancouver at the age of nine. There, he studied Art and Art History at the University of British Columbia, where he met Sophie, his partner in life ever since. Dikeakos has contributed significantly to the development of the Vancouver Photoconceptualism “school”. In his work, he continually delves into local histories, the conditions of modernity and the socio-economic relations of specific places. His work has been exhibited extensively in Canada and internationally.

During his photographic project Sites and Place Names (1991, 2015) he became the first Canadian artist who photographed North American urbanscapes in order to engage in the pre-colonial histories of the place. The project expanded to Athens, Berlin, Saskatoon, and Thessaloniki. More recently, Dikeakos created the traveling exhibition Pâtisserie Duchamp / Puis-je fumer? (2011) for the McMaster Museum of Art, in which he unfolded his 40-year-old interest in the work and thoughts of Marcel Duchamp. In this project, he combined drawing, collage, sculpture, and photography, drawing on the tradition of the French American artist. Soon after, Nature Morte (2014) gave an in-depth representation of the economic and environmental issues of the Apple Orchards in the southern Okanagan region of British Columbia. Combined with photographic series such as Urban Nomadic Homelessness (2005-2009), it becomes obvious that Dikeakos’ intention has always been to raise issues on the social and historical complexities of the urban inhabitations, and the nature of progress as opposed to the culture of the First People.

Alongside his artistic practices, Dikeakos and his family opened the restaurant Kozmas in 1982 in Vancouver, the first Greek restaurant in the city to seek out authentic Greek cuisine. It became a success and a home for artists as Dikeakos, his wife Sophie and his sister Alexandra brought forward a quality of hospitality that go in line with his stance towards art, its social role, and the indigenous tradition.

In 2000, Dikeakos collaborated with architect Noel Best on a public commission in Vancouver, The Lookout. Today, his work is held in public collections such as the Museum of Canadian Contemporary Art, National Gallery of Canada, Vancouver Art Gallery, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, and the Vorres Art Museum in Greece.

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Source: Photometria website

Website: Christos Dikeakos