The painter Giannis Tzovanakis was born in Lamia in 1928. He lives and works in Thessaloniki.
He began his studies at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1946–1951) under the painting teacher Andreas Georgiadis, and continued with a scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) at the Accademia di Belle Arti (1959–1960) in Rome and the École Normale de Dessin (1962–1964) in Geneva. At the same time, he made educational art trips to study the works of great classical and contemporary artists.
He taught art education (1954–1986) in secondary and higher education (Pedagogical Academies and Kindergarten Teacher Training Schools).
The Society of Greek Writers honored him with a “Certificate of Honor” for his visual artwork.
He has presented his work in 16 solo exhibitions (Thessaloniki, Lamia, Serres, Katerini) and participated in group exhibitions in Greece (Athens, Thessaloniki, Heraklion, Chania, Katerini, and elsewhere) and abroad (Rome, Geneva, Luxembourg, Bonn, and Stockholm).
His works can be found in the Municipal Art Gallery of Thessaloniki, the Art Gallery of the Society for Macedonian Studies, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Thessaloniki, the University of Macedonia, the Municipal Art Gallery of Lamia, as well as in various collections in Greece and abroad.
He is a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece (EETE) and the Association of Visual Artists of Northern Greece (SKETBE).