The painter Vasilis Kelaidis was born in Chania in 1938. He lives and works in Athens and Chania.
Supported by an IKY (State Scholarships Foundation) scholarship, he studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts in the studio of A. Georgiadis, and mosaic under E. Voila. In 1967, on a Ford Foundation fellowship, he traveled throughout Europe, where he came into contact with the artistic movements of the period.
Drawing visual inspiration from surrealism, he proposes compositions that express his reflections on the life of modern man in big cities. He elevates elements of the natural environment into symbols to signify humanity’s detachment from nature. Using acrylics as his primary medium, he emphasizes solid draftsmanship, the active role of light, and the meticulously calculated organization of the canvas.
He has held over twenty solo exhibitions (including in Athens, Chania, Heraklion, Piraeus, Livadia, and Stuttgart). In 2008, a retrospective exhibition of his work was presented at the Municipal Art Gallery of Chania. He has also participated in numerous group exhibitions in Greece (e.g., Athens, Thessaloniki, Chania, Volos) and abroad (e.g., the Alexandria Biennale in 1976, where he won 1st Prize; Paris, Dortmund, Bucharest, Budapest, Warsaw, Antwerp, and Chicago).
His works are housed in the Ministry of Culture, the Vorres Museum, the National Bank of Greece, the National Gallery of Greece, the Municipal Art Gallery of Chania, and in various private collections in Greece and internationally.