About The Artist
GEORGE MELINIOTIS MBE
As a child, I spent more time doodling, daydreaming and drawing, when in the classroom, rather than concentrating on the set classroom tasks. My imagination would take me into distant and obscure worlds, where light and dark merged. Colours fused into each other, to cover all objects and figures with continuous colour fluidity. In these strange worlds, form, shape and order did not exist in the normal way. It was all in the imagination. I did not know it at the time, but this imagination is what drives art. I also did not know at the time, that I was and still am, synaesthesic, which enables me to visualise the world around me in my special way and this should be very useful, in my artistic pursuits. Expression of this special world however, is very personal, with some difficulty in conveying to others. This has made me somewhat conservative and traditional, in much of my work, although this is now changing. This is exciting for me, now experimenting with a variety of ways to express my thoughts.
As a pupil, I found that I really enjoyed the rare treat, when we were allowed to paint in class, using water and poster paints. I started painting more seriously, when I was about ten years old, when I chose to have a set of poster paints as a present. My confidence was boosted when in my early teens, I won first prize for my age group, in an all Birmingham painting competition, sponsored by the then Milk Marketing Board, which required candidates to paint a dairy scene. I did not understand at the time, why a dairy scene was important to the school children of industrial Birmingham, but maybe its purpose was intended to enable inner city pupils to explore new ground. Interestingly, the prizes were awarded at what was then the Odeon, just by the Birmingham Bull Ring! Maybe there is some meaning to be explored there!
As I continued with my education, I chose a scientific career, with art becoming a leisure activity for me and this separation between career and leisure, has worked well for me until now. During the last ten or so years, I have participated in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Open Studios and local exhibitions as well as holding three solo and two joint exhibitions.
Now that I am older, with less work pressure and added confidence in expression, I hope to develop a more adventurous approach, where science and art will merge in continuous fluidity, just like my synaesthesic world. Working on it.
As a child, I spent more time doodling, daydreaming and drawing, when in the classroom, rather than concentrating on the set classroom tasks. My imagination would take me into distant and obscure worlds, where light and dark merged. Colours fused into each other, to cover all objects and figures with continuous colour fluidity. In these strange worlds, form, shape and order did not exist in the normal way. It was all in the imagination. I did not know it at the time, but this imagination is what drives art. I also did not know at the time, that I was and still am, synaesthesic, which enables me to visualise the world around me in my special way and this should be very useful, in my artistic pursuits. Expression of this special world however, is very personal, with some difficulty in conveying to others. This has made me somewhat conservative and traditional, in much of my work, although this is now changing. This is exciting for me, now experimenting with a variety of ways to express my thoughts.
As a pupil, I found that I really enjoyed the rare treat, when we were allowed to paint in class, using water and poster paints. I started painting more seriously, when I was about ten years old, when I chose to have a set of poster paints as a present. My confidence was boosted when in my early teens, I won first prize for my age group, in an all Birmingham painting competition, sponsored by the then Milk Marketing Board, which required candidates to paint a dairy scene. I did not understand at the time, why a dairy scene was important to the school children of industrial Birmingham, but maybe its purpose was intended to enable inner city pupils to explore new ground. Interestingly, the prizes were awarded at what was then the Odeon, just by the Birmingham Bull Ring! Maybe there is some meaning to be explored there!
As I continued with my education, I chose a scientific career, with art becoming a leisure activity for me and this separation between career and leisure, has worked well for me until now. During the last ten or so years, I have participated in Hertfordshire and Cambridgeshire Open Studios and local exhibitions as well as holding three solo and two joint exhibitions.
Now that I am older, with less work pressure and added confidence in expression, I hope to develop a more adventurous approach, where science and art will merge in continuous fluidity, just like my synaesthesic world. Working on it.