Visual Arts

Stass Paraskos was born on Cyprus in 1933 and travelled to England in 1953 where he worked at his brother's restaurant in Leeds, which was a popular haunt for students from the Leeds School of Art. He was encouraged to apply for entry to the art school and although he lacked the necessary qualifications, he was eventually admitted with the support of the then Head of Fine Art, Harry Thubron.

He taught at Leeds College of Art, Leicester Polytechnic and Canterbury College of Art before becoming a Lecturer in Fine Art at Canterbury College of Art. He was appointed Senior Lecturer in Fine Art and later Head of Painting at the newly-created Kent Institute of Art & Design before returning home to Cyprus where he established Cyprus College of Art in 1978.

In 1966, Paraskos was charged under the Vagrancy Act (Stass was the last person to be charged under the Act, which dated back to 1838) in a case in which it was alleged that he had displayed paintings that were 'lewd and obscene'.

This court case was one of a number of similar legal challenges to the freedom of the arts during the 60s and 70s - from the Lady Chatterley trial in 1960 to the OZ Magazine trial in 1971. Although he had support from a wide range of influential people from Sir Herbert Read to the Home Secretary Roy Jenkins, Paraskos lost the case and was fined five pounds.

Paraskos' paintings are best described as figurative but non-naturalistic. They are painted in bright colours and often describe political, historical or personal scenes from his past. Byzantine art was an obvious influence, as was the art of Gauguin.

He has exhibited his work in Cyprus, Greece, UK, USA, Brazil, Scandinavia, India and elsewhere and is in many public collections including the Tate Gallery, the State Collections of Cyprus, the National Gallery of Greece, the Collection of the Arts Council of England, Leeds University Art Collection, Leeds City Art Gallery. In 2008 he was awarded an Honoury Doctorate by the University of Bolton for his services to art and art education.

The exhibition will be held in the Vernon Street building where Stass Paraskos once studied and taught from the Friday 13 February to Friday 13 March 2009. The venue will be open Monday to Thursday 10am - 8pm and Fridays 10am - 4pm. Admission is free.