George Raftopoulos held his first solo show when he was still in his third year of university at only 20 years of age. He has been exhibiting ever since in Australia and internationally in New York, Hong Kong and Paris. He has a relentless energy and rebellious attitude which comes through in his art.

I had been aware of Raftopoulos' work for some time but it wasn't until I started following him on Instagram that I really got a sense of what his art was about. His prolific output, imagination, humour and bold aesthetic were something I used to look forward to on my feed. Then suddenly one day he deleted it all!  I thought - what is going on? Well, I found out in this interview.

We talk about his early years when his was the only Greek family in the small NSW town of Grenfell, the moment in his teenage years which defined which direction his life would take, his process, inspiration, purpose and the effect of the internet on the art world.

Scroll down to see a short video made in 2018 of Raftopoulos passing on his thoughts on painting and creativity to art students in Sydney.

Links to people and things we talk about in the show

* George Raftopoulos

* George Raftopoulos on Instagram

* John Olsen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNCf5h8NXB8

George Raftopoulos in front of his recent work 'The Raw RΩAR'

 

'Aeschylus of the Underworld' 150 x 180cm, oil on polyester (2010)

'The ROSE of no mans LAND', 2017, mixed media on Japanese linen, 183cm x 183cm

'BANGAREE'

'ProtoTYPOS'

'GRECCO corroborree'