PANTELIS MELISSINOS “SANDAL MAKER TO THE STARS”

PANTELIS MELISSINOS -“MELISSINOS SANDALS”

Pantelis Melissinos interview on ALPHA TV with Rania Alevra for Natalia Germanou’s Show

His bespoke leather sandals have been walking throughout the world, for years now. They’ve been to major cities and remote corners of the earth, unlike him who, like a modern day Socrates, never leaves Athens! His sandal-workshop is a meeting place for art, poetry, music, theater and of course sandals!!!

PANTELIS MELISSINOS “SANDAL MAKER TO THE STARS”

Pantelis Melissinos with Jill & Ashley Biden, wife & daughter, respectively of Joe Biden -Vice President of the United States.

Pantelis Melissinos has made sandals for King Felipe VI of Spain (at the request of his mother Queen Sophia), Salvador Dali’s alter ego, famous singer Amanda Lear, Joe Biden’s family, poet-musician: Leonard Cohen and his band and crew, Hollywood celebrities: Bob Saget, Lily Tomlin and Sarah Jessica Parker, popular British comedienne: Dawn French, comedian: Richard Ayoade, Japan’s superstar: Satomi Ishihara, Mick Jagger‘s fashion designer girlfriend L’Wren Scott and their entourage, CNN’s Richard Quest, fashion designer and TV personality: Kimora Lee Simmons, celebrity athlete and singer, prince Hubertus Von Hohenlohe, and the list goes on.

Sarah Jessica Parker, thanking Pantelis Melissinos for the sandals he made for her.

THE OLD FAMILY SANDAL-WORKSHOP

After his father’s death, in the mid-50’s, Stavros Melissinos, Pantelis’ father, took the fashion world by storm, when he created the first Ancient Greek Sandals for daily life. These sandals, soon, became very popular, worldwide, and from then on, the old family sandal workshop was not only a place for sandals, but also a rendezvous for Athenian artists, poets and philosophers.

It was in that old family workshop that Pantelis first listened to famous Greeks, talking about philosophy, poetry and art and all those discussions and talks formed his own ideas and character.

HIS ART STUDIES

Pantelis Melissinos as a student of art in Manhattan

Early on, in his life, he studied classical piano and art and started writing his own poetry. In 1980, when he turned 20, he moved to the United States and studied at the famous Parsons School of Design, in New York City, where he received his BFA in Illustration and his MFA in Painting. There, he also wrote and staged plays for his colleagues and then he moved on and became the Artistic Director of the Greek Cultural Center of New York.

He has also worked as a set and costume designer, for many years, mainly for the Ancient Greek Theater scene, in his native Athens. He has had many one man shows, as an artist and painter, and his artworks are in collections throughout the world.

PANTELIS MELISSINOS’ ARTWORK

Every single painting by Pantelis Melissinos looks like a stage where Greek mythology, and The Theatre Of The Absurd meet with Latin American or African performers that tell stories or sing passionate songs about happiness, sorrows and loves lost or found. They relate the exploits of legendary or unknown -but nevertheless- very important heroes or heroines. Sometimes the protagonist is a slice of watermelon, a chair, a table, a cactus, a palm tree, some written words and so on… everyone and everything gets an equal opportunity on the Melissinos “stage”. They are all important because they are all part of life. And Life is what his art is about. The colors, the sounds, the scents, the six senses and the feelings of life are all present all the time.

THE RANGE OF HIS ART

The range of Melissinos’ art varies from sketches and drawings to paintings on canvas or three-dimensional painted assemblages, jewelry, wearable art, poetry, plays, as well as set and costume design. He also writes music and lyrics for the plays he writes and which he produces whenever his need to communicate with a live audience is urgent.

Pantelis Melissinos as a young art student in Florence

HIS POEMS, COMEDIES & MUSIC

His usually narrative poetry is philosophical and deals, like his paintings, with heroes or heroines and their everyday life equivalents. He also enjoys writing music and comedies. But in recent years poetry has definitely won him over.

DICTIONARY OF GREEK ARTISTS

Volume 3 16-20th Century:

“…In his artwork the ancient myths deal with contemporary anxieties and are depicted in a visual language that combines ancient “primitive”, expressionistic and sometimes surrealistic elements in a different “tonal key”. His 3-dimensional paintings are in a way “set designs” where dynamic forms and brilliant color juxtapositions envelope his leading mythological figure or scene, which gets its meaning from a personal iconography and symbolism…”

Helena Haimalidou

Art Historian

MELISSA PUBLICATIONS

A letter from the dean of the students, at Parsons School of Design. The year was 1984 and Pantelis Melissinos was named to the DEAN’S LIST.

BORN:16-01-1959, Athens -Greece.STUDIES:

• PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN/
• BFA /ILLUSTRATION (1987)
• MFA /PAINTING (1989).

WORK EXPERIENCE:

• GREEK CULTURAL CENTER, New York, USA / Art Teacher (1985-1986) Set & Costume Designer (1986-1987) /Artistic Director (1988-1989).
• HARMER JOHNSON BOOKS & ANTIQUITIES, New York, USA (1989-1990)
• HELEXPO Set Designer of the 33rd International Song Festival of Thessalonica (1994).
• KASTALIA/ ANCIENT DRAMA GROUP Set & Costume Designer (1995 to date)
• NET 2 (National Television of Greece) Set Designer of “AVLAEA” (A show about the history of Greek pop music 1993 -1994).

P. Melissinos is currently working as a painter, a set & costume designer and an interior decorator.

His artwork has been shown in numerous one man and group shows, as well as on the Internet (LAMBRAKIS FOUNDATION/ internet ART Site), on TV talk shows ASAHI /Japan, MEGA CHANNEL, ANTENNA, SEVEN X, NET 1, NET 2. etc. Several magazine and newspaper journalists have also interviewed him about his artwork (CLICK, FLASH, DIVA, THE ATHENIAN, ELEUTHEROTYPIA, APOYEVMATINI, MAISON ET DECORATION, EXODOS, NITRO, PROINE of N.Y., NATIONAL HERALD (N.Y.), TA NEA, TO VEMA etc.).

Glenda Jackson Letter to Pantelis Melissinos

His paintings can be found in private collections in New York, Hartford, Ohio, Philadelphia, Boston, London, Tokyo, Paris and Athens.ONE MAN’S SHOW (SELECTED)

• 2001: Diana Gallery, Athens.
• 1998: Olga Georgantea Gallery, Athens.
• 1992: Tempo 2000 Gallery, Athens.
• 1991: Olga Georgantea Gallery, Athens.
• 1986: Greek Cultural Center, New York.

GROUP SHOWS (SELECTED)

• 2001: “Art to Use”, DIANA – YIULIA GALLERY, Athens.
• 

  Prince of Wales Letter to Pantelis Melissinos

  1999:

  • “Millennium Art Sale 2000”, DIANA –
  • YIULIA GALLERY, Athens.
  • “Senses, Obsessions & Illusions”, GAZI, Municipality of Athens, Athens.
• 1998:
  • “Expanding the Possibilities”, Hewlett Packard, GAZI, Municipality of Athens.
  • “Red Cross Art Show”, RED CROSS, Athens.
  • “Trash Art”, GAZI, Municipality of Athens.
  • HEOS GALLERY, Athens.
  • THRYALIS GALLERY, Patra.
  • “17 Planetary Recipes”, AETHOUSA TECHNIS NAFPLIOU, Nauplion
• 1997: “Forty Greek Artists Support The Doctors Without Frontiers” -MELINA MERKOURI CULTURAL CENTER –Athens.
• 1996: “Cheap Art Show-96”, CHEAP ART, Athens.
• 1995: “Cheap Art Show-95”, CHEAP ART, Athens.
• 1985:
  • SOCIETY OF ILLUSTRATORS, New York, USA.
  • PARSONS, New York, USA.
• 1981: EGNER ART GALLERY, Ohio, USA.

OTHER ACTIVITIES & STUDIES P. Melissinos has also studied music at the “ODEION ATHINON” (Athens Conservatoire)and is the writer of five plays:

• “MAESTRO FARSHAS” A comedy staged at PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN –1985.
• “PRINCE GLUTONIUS” A comedy staged at PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN –1986.
• “THE ART DEALER” A comedy staged at PARSONS SCHOOL OF DESIGN –1987
• “BACCHUS” A comedy staged in the AMPHITHEATER OF SETTA, in Central Euboia /summer- 2001 & summer -2002. “BACCHUS” was also performed in the BLACK BOX THEATER of the AMERICAN COLLEGE OF GREECE
• “THE VAIN CHRISTMAS TREE” A comedy written for the Christmas activities of The PHILOPROODOS OMILOS HYMETTUS, Athens, 2002-03
• “DESERT WINE”, Lyrics: Stavros & Pantelis Melissinos. Music by Pantelis Melissinos, (1991) “BACCHUS” the music of the above-mentioned play, (2001).