Bio

I was born in Kato Polemidia but for many years I have been living and working in beautiful Limassol, my father's city.

I believe I was born a painter, it was always my dream. I have studied and admired Renaissance painters, especially Michelangelo. They were my teachers.

I love the madness and perfection in Dali’s works. The wonderful light that emerges from the dark works of Rembrandt. The mind of my beloved Da Vinci. I don’t know how much the various currents and trends in painting techniques have influenced me, I don’t even know if I can call myself a painter. I only know that I belong to art – painting defines me – it is my very life. A day is wasted if I don’t serve it. I am a devoted lover and student in the service of Art.

The mass media have characterized me as a “Myth and Dream” painter, a title which I am particularly honored by.

I walked and dreamed, I walk and dream on the paths of Greek Mythology. The wonderful imagination and personification of natural phenomena on its pages offer me dreamy images that resonate in my soul
they morph into my canvas. A project is a vision. First the image comes to mind without the artist knowing why the image is there. This is the inspiration!

To date I have presented 18 individual exhibitions and I have taken part in
many group exhibitions in Cyprus and abroad (Greece, England, America,
Bulgaria, Israel, Hong Kong, Japan and elsewhere). My works are in public and private collections both in Cyprus and abroad.

I worked with many materials and techniques. Oil painting, Pastel, Indian ink, Tempera, Stained glass, to end up in Acrylic which expresses me perfectly with transparency and the vibrancy of its colors, along with a variety of mixed materials. I also deal with Graphic Arts, Stained Glass, Watercolor and Illustration.

At the same time, I deal with Byzantine Art and Hagiography which with
it leads to paths of prayer, tranquility and self-awareness. My pictures are found in many Churches and decorate many homes and offices.

I believe I was born a painter. I wish and pray that I always have the strength to continue on this path and may, leaving this temporary world, leave with a brush in my hand…

I will let other people who knew me and believed in me and my art, to talk about me...

I have known Androula Elia for many years and I introduce her as my eldest daughter. As soon as she finished school, a shy little girl came to ask for a job as a designer. To be precise, she came to impress us with her original talent. She was asked to paint a work. The result was amazing. Line, color, composition, imagination, comfort and speed were all there. This exam was just the beginning. The development was rapid. Through our many years of cooperation, I had the opportunity and the luck to follow the steps - rather the leaps - of progress of Androulas Elia.

Thousands of drawings, models, trademarks, posters, stained glass, hagiographies, book illustrations... Soon she took over as art director. Art is her life. Whatever medium and technique he used, the result was always excellent.. Pencil, Ink, Watercolor, Acrylic, Oil, Charcoal, Pastel, Stained glass, Pyrography, Silkscreens.. Her works take you to the past, bring you to the present and take you to the future. Each piece is also a separate artistic pleasant surprise that gives mental euphoria, enjoyment and spiritual upliftment.

Androula Elia Painter, Hagiographer, Graphic Artist, is considered an accomplished visual artist, with a multifaceted and varied work, who lives and works in Limassol. He consistently and passionately serves Art, working quietly. She is a low-key person who, despite her successes, has not "ridden the rod", and does not feel comfortable when she is congratulated and praised for her work. She has 17 individual exhibitions to her credit and participated in over 50 group exhibitions in Cyprus and abroad. (Greece, England, Italy, America, Israel, Yugoslavia, Serbia, Croatia, Persia, Egypt, Lebanon, and elsewhere). Her works are in public galleries and private collections and adorn hotels, houses, apartments, offices, churches.

She is a member of the Association of Free Painters and Sculptors of England, the Institute of Multi Skils and the Academy of Multi Skils, England. For her Byzantine Art and Hagiographies, she has been honored in a special ceremony by the Blessed Patriarch of Alexandria and Pope of All Africa, Peter. Her interests -beyond Art- are study and research. She is enchanted by Mythology and stands out for her philosophical thinking. This is Androula Elia, Artist, Philosopher, Human.

Head of the Cultural Services of the Municipality of Limassol

In one of my exhibitions entitled Invitation to the Dream she said:

It is my special pleasure to inaugurate tonight, here in one of the most lively cultural spaces of the historical center of Limassol, the Panikos Mavrellis Foundation Arts Center, the 16th solo exhibition of a painter with a long-term and uninterrupted presence, almost twenty-five years, in the artistic development of the city and the place in general, with substantial representation of her work, in group exhibitions, not only in Cyprus but also abroad.

With her design fluency and comfort, with acrylic and canvas tools and with an approach that moves between the figurative realism of illustration, graphic art and dream transcendence, Androula Elia takes us on a journey into the realm of sensuality and imagination, capturing the primordial deities of Heaven and Earth, the Sun and the stars, flying horses, flying and amphibious beings, gods, demigods and archetypal figures from Greek mythology, surrounded by an aura of universal exaltation. Zeus, Aphrodite, Poseidon and Demeter, Orpheus, Persephone, Bacchus, Endymion, Adonis and Amphitrite, Pleiades and Nereids, Titans, Pegasus, Leda, Cassandra, Achilles and Hekate end up being contemporary and achronistic forms at the same time.

At the same time, they are transformed into monumental painting tributes to an otherworldly world of joy, hope and optimism, through the rhythmic, harmonious conception and function of the entire painted surface and its individual parts, a skillful performance of color and a diffusion of light, which recalls the flashes of Byzantine iconography.

This is how Androula Elia succeeds in lifting us into an atmosphere of metaphysical euphoria, offering ways out beyond the dull and colorless everyday life. Congratulations to Androula Elia, to whom I wish every success and continuation of her creative path with the same enthusiasm as always.

President of ANT1 Cyprus

Hilton Hotel 30-3-2009

You see these projects. This revelry, this exquisite harmony?

I see that there is a transcendental realism, rough, robust but also fragile, which works both mythologically and dreamlike. But what works best, works the myth, works the dream, works Art and works Androula Elia.

This Art that works in this way is yours.

Dear Androula, keep going. Build the beautiful world for us!