YIannis Koutsis was born in Patras,Greece. His first teachers were Gregory G. Papatheodorou and Gerasimos Kassolas. At age nine years old he began painting in churches. Later he painted banners for movies, while participating in the artistic work for the Carnival of Patras.
Yannis perfected his technique in the Athens School of Fine Arts studying the great Greek artists Ransom, Gizi, Smith and Volanakis Iacovidis, as well as the world classics Michaelangelo, Botticelli, rubens, Delacroix, Raphal and Rembrandt. One of the most distinguished Greek painters, Yannis Moralis, used to encourage students to learn Yiannis' style of painting.
Yiannis was awarded the Calhoun Collectors Society's competition in America which portrayed spiritual scenes from the heritage of Western Civilization. The jury chose painted works with Biblical scenes. His works circulated in a limited edition collection of porcelain items, plates, sculptures and statues.
National museums and public collections hold some of his artwork. He has managed to dominate the technique needed for the graphical representation as well as the surreal performance of a nonexistent reality.
EXHIBITIONS1973 Quantas Art Gallery 1974 Texnis Gallery, Athens 1977 Braina Gallery, Palm Beach, Florida 1978 George Gallery, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 1979 Hyatt Regency, Chicago 1980 Colosseum, New York 1982 Municipal Art Center, Patra 1983 Morfes Gallery, Patra 1983 Zygos Gallery, Herakleion Crete 1984 Ora Gallery, Athens 1985-86 Brandford Exchange, Chicago 1995 Adinor Gallery, Athens 1999 Magna Gallery, Athens