Panayiotis Vassilakis, also known as Takis, was a self-taught Greek artist known for his kinetic sculptures. He exhibited his artworks in Europe and the United States. Popular in France, his works can be found in public locations in and around Paris, as well as at the Athens-based Takis Foundation Research Center for the Arts and Sciences.
Takis' artistic career began when he was 20 years old in a basement workshop in Athens. He was influenced by the works of Picasso and Giacometti, and his first sculptures were plaster busts and combinations of plaster and wrought iron. In 1954, he moved to Paris and learned to forge, weld, and cast metal. He also met artists like Yves Klein and Jean Tinguely who were experimenting with kinetic sculptures, which shifted his interest from the static to the kinetic. Takis was fascinated with energies and things that cannot be seen, but are integral parts of our lives. He explored the magnetic forces and energy of the magnetic fields, which became a foundation of his future works.
Takis moved to Massachusetts, where he received a researcher's scholarship at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the Center of Advanced Visual Studies as a visiting researcher, and began creating the series of Sculptures électromagnétiques. Later, he returned to Greece in 1986 where he established the Research Center for Art and the Sciences in Gerovouno, Attica.
In an interview published in the Tate catalogue, issued for the major retrospective held in Tate Modern in 2019, just one month before his death, Takis explains his role as one of demystification. "It’s only about revealing, in one way or another, the sensory vibrations or the interlacing potentials for energy that exist in the universe," he explains. "I think that’s the role of an artist, whether painter, sculptor or musician. ... I don’t think this energy should be considered as something abstract."
Selected works
PANAYIOTIS VASSILAKIS TAKIS - (1925 - 2019) - LIGHT SIGNAL
ΤITLE: LIGHT SIGNAL MEDIUM: METAL BASE AND METAL ROD AND BLUE FLASH LIGHT DIMENSIONS: 216 cm. INFORMATION: DATED (2017) ON THE BASE. (EDITION BRANGER LAJOIX).
TAKIS - (1925 - 2019) - MAGNETIC EVIDENCE
ΤITLE: MAGNETIC EVIDENCE MEDIUM: BRONZE DIMENSIONS: 32χ43χ25 cm. INFORMATION: SIGNED AND NUMBERED (270/1000 ΙΙ) BELOW
TAKIS - TABLE
TABLE METAL, GLASS AND METAL DISCS 30Χ46Χ46 CM. SIGNED BELOW (5/50) (THE ARTWORK IS CERTIFIED BY TAKIS FOUNDATION)
PANAYIOTIS VASSILAKIS TAKIS - (1925 - 2019) - LIGHT SIGNAL
ΤITLE: LIGHT SIGNAL MEDIUM: METAL BASE AND METAL ROD AND BLUE FLASH LIGHT DIMENSIONS: 216 cm. INFORMATION: DATED (2017) ON THE BASE. (EDITION BRANGER LAJOIX).
TAKIS - (1925 - 2019) - MAGNETIC EVIDENCE
ΤITLE: MAGNETIC EVIDENCE MEDIUM: BRONZE DIMENSIONS: 32χ43χ25 cm. INFORMATION: SIGNED AND NUMBERED (270/1000 ΙΙ) BELOW
TAKIS - TABLE
TABLE METAL, GLASS AND METAL DISCS 30Χ46Χ46 CM. SIGNED BELOW (5/50) (THE ARTWORK IS CERTIFIED BY TAKIS FOUNDATION)