About The Artist

George Ianaki (Georgi) is an accomplished artist with an impressive educational background, holding both a BFA in painting and drawing from the Kazanlack School of Arts and Design and a MA in traditional classical paining from the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia, Bulgaria, European Union. Being taught in academic figure and portrait painting, Georgi shifted to abstract art after graduation. After years of modern abstract paintings, he returned to realism and figurative scenes inspired by Neo-classicism, mythology, and historical events. Realism has been misunderstood through most of the twentieth century as an art of imitation. In truth, when practiced by a painter like Georgi, realist painting is a powerful creative force. Being a good realist painter doesn’t only mean to reflect reality in the most realistically accurate manner. There is something bigger behind the paintings demonstrating the bare reality. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be a need for such a prolific art movement as Realism. What, though, captivates people’s minds when they see realistic paintings is the idea of the painter’s authenticity and originality, which almost always goes hand in hand with concrete reality. Georgi's paintings combine the bestial and the divine, transporting one’s subconscious into reality. They imply situations, events, or relationships that are suggestive and not directly expressed. This imbues them with an engaging sense of mystery. The history teaches us some invaluable lessons about life, about art. For Georgi, Italian Renaissance and Dutch Golden Age are the periods some of his favorite artworks were done. Starting with the 1400s, and going forward to the work of Caravaggio, Titian, and Rembrandt. When talking about the depth and sincerity, both Baroque and Renaissance painting have become a standard for the artist. The idea of working with no limit on the labor required to finish the piece is appealing to him. While oil painting media and technique is traditional, Georgi seeks to capture the sensibility of our time, and how the objects and people look today. https://www.georgeianaki.com 2023: Artists Network, Strokes of Genius 15 (finalist) Strokes of Genius 2023, MFA Circle Gallery Fall Member Show, MFA Circle Gallery (juror's award) Gallery B, Bethesda, MD (first place award) Portals, MFA Circle Gallery Spring Member Show, MFA Circle Gallery (juror's award) Art on Paper 2023, MFA Circle Gallery MFA, Black Art Matters MFA, Lowe House (MD House of Delegates) 2022: 16th International ARC Salon 2022 (semi-finalist) Strokes of Genius 2022, MFA Circle Gallery (juror's award) 2021: Art, Lights and Shadow, Curve Gallery, Annapolis MD 15th ARC Salon 2020-2021 (finalist) 2018: One Art Space, New York, NY (group show) 2017: Team Gallery, Venice, CA (group show) 1997: Manayunk Art Festival, Philadelphia, PA (group show) 1995: Agora Gallery, New York, NY (group show) Manayunk Art Festival, Philadelphia, PA (group show) 1994: Agora Gallery, New York, NY (solo show) 1993: The Ralls Collection, Washington, DC (group show) 1992: Oskar Gallery, Washington, DC (group show) The Ralls Collection, Washington, DC (solo) Michael Stone Collection, Washington, DC (solo) Guadalajara Art Expo, Guadalajara, Mexico (solo) 1991: Frankfurt Art Fair (represented by Galerie Matuschek) Frankfurt, Germany (group show) ABC Modern Art Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (group show) Arosita Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (group show) Plovdiv Art Expo, Plovdiv, Bulgaria (group show) Sophy Gallery, Tokyo, Japan (group show) Rakovsky 136 Gallery, Sofia, Bulgaria (solo) 1990: UniCat Winter exhibition, Sicily, Italy (group show) Autumn Saloon of Art, Sofia, Bulgaria (group show) UniCat Summer exhibition, Paris, France (group show) Emona Gallery, Nessebar, Bulgaria (solo) 1989: Varna International Print Biennial, Varna, Bulgaria (group show) ONYX Galerie, Nantes, France (solo) 8th Youth Art Exhibition, Sofia, Bulgaria (solo) 1987: Kazanlack College of Art, Kazanlack, Bulgaria (solo) Central City Gallery, Bourgas, Bulgaria (group show)