Boat on the sea, 1995

A doctor by profession, Papanakos could be described as self-taught, since he only occasionally took lessons in painting from Polykleitos Rengos during his time in high school, while he was influenced by Nikos-Gavriil Pentzikis and Nikos Photakis. His subject-matter includes chapels, barracks, veterans of the Macedonia campaign, clergy, labouring men, and landscapes. In his works, usually of small dimensions, his feelings - whatever moved him, his love for man and his environment - are recorded lyrically and expressionistically, in a style which is reminiscent of children's drawings and the Naifs. In colours which are either bright or dark and dull, on well organised surfaces with clear outlines and sometimes with swift brush-strokes, and with a marked movement and rotation, he releases his strongly felt inner self, on occasion resorting to distortion.