Stephen Antonakos

Stephen Antonakos was a Greek-American sculptor renowned for his abstract sculptures, frequently integrating neon elements.

Biography of Stephen Antonakos

Stephen Antonakos was born in Agios Nikolaos, a small Greek village, in 1926. When he was 4 years old, his family moved to the USA, settling in New York. He grew up in Brooklyn, in the neighborhood of Bay Ridge.

In the late 1940s, following his return from the US Army, he set up his first studio in New York. From the early 1960s onward, until his passing in 2013, he worked in studios located in Soho.

Since 1958, Antonakos's artwork has been featured in hundreds of solo and group exhibitions across New York, the USA, Europe, and Japan. Nearly every exhibition saw him creating new works.

Stephen Antonakos received the Prize for Art from the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2009. Throughout his career, he was honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards from prestigious institutions including the Neuberger Museum in Purchase, NY (2000), the National Academy Museum, and the Greek America Foundation (both in 2011).

The artist died in 2013, leaving behind a rich legacy of works. Antonakos's works have been featured in numerous exhibitions since his death, including "STEPHEN ANTONAKOS: FORM COLOR SPACE" at French Alliance: Alliance Française in New York (2021), "Stephen Antonakos: Late Night, Gold Works 2010-2013" at Loretta Howards Gallery in New York (2019), "The Room Chapel" at Allentown Art Museum in Allentown (2018), and many more. 

Stephen Antonakos's Art Style

Since 1960, Antonakos's exploration of neon has imbued the medium with new perceptual and formal meanings. His utilization of spare, complete, and incomplete geometric neon forms has spanned from direct three-dimensional indoor installations to painted canvases, walls, iconic back-lit panels with painted or gold surfaces, as well as his distinctive rooms and chapels.

Beginning in the 1970s, he installed more than 55 architecturally-scaled permanent public works in the USA, Europe, Israel, and Japan. Throughout his career, he conceptualized his art in relation to its site—considering scale, proportions, and the character of the space—as well as its interaction with the viewer. He described his art as "real things in real spaces," emphasizing its immediate visual and kinetic experience without reference to external contexts.

Colored pencil drawings on paper and vellum, often presented in series, have been a significant part of Antonakos's art practice. Additionally, he has engaged deeply with collage. Other major aspects of his work include conceptual packages, small-edition artist's books, silver and white reliefs, prints, and, since 2011, several series of framed and three-dimensional gold works.