Opy Sarpaki Zouni was born in Cairo in 1941. She lived and worked in Athens since 1963. She has died after she lost her battle with cancer on 5th December 2008.
She has studied painting (1959-62) in Cairo and at the Athens School of Fine Arts (1963-68).
She has presented her work alive in 70 solo exhibitions, 51 have been in Greece at galleries, museums and cultural centres, and among them the more notable are at: · Desmos (73) · Athens Gallery (75, 78, 90, 92) · Contemporary Graphics with Medusa in collaboration with Alexandros Iolas (82) · Gallery 3, again in collaboration with Iolas (84) · Trito Mati (86) · Museum of Modern Art B. & E. Goulandris in Andros (87) · Eirmos in Thessaloniki (88) · Vellidio Cultural Centre in Thessaloniki (89) · French Institute in Athens (92) · Mylos in Thessaloniki (93) · Kreonidis (96) · ArtForum in Thessaloniki (96, 00) · Art Athina 4 (96) · Adam Gallery (98) · Municipal Gallery of Patras (98) · Museum of Cycladic Art - Athens (99) · Gallery of Cyclades, Ermoupoli, Syros (02) · Skoufa Gallery, Athens (03) · Contemporary Art Centre, Larissa (03) · Fine Arts Kapopoulos, Alimos (Athens, 05) · Lola Nicolaou Art Gallery, Thessaloniki (06) · Gallery F, Karditsa (06) · Cycladic Art Museum, Athens (06) · Bellonio Culture Center, Santorini (07) · Eikastikos Kyklos, Athens (07). Of the 19 exhibitions organized abroad, the most notable once were, in chronological order, at: · International Centre of Artistic Experimentations M.-L. Jeanneret - Boissano (80) · Lausanne Museum of Fine Art (80) · Galerie Jeanneret - Genève (82) · Galerie Samy Kinge - Paris in collaboration with Alexander Iolas (84) · Peter Noser Gallery - Zürich (85) · International Cultural Centre (ICC) - Antwerpen (86) · Galerie Kara - Genève (89, 91) · Galerie Donguy - Paris (94) · Stiftung für Griechische Kultur - Berlin (99) · MiArt/Anemos, Milan (01) · Association d’Art Contemporain, Chamalieres (01) · State Gallery of Contemporary Cypriot Art, Nicosia (02) · Musée Pully, 3 Hellènes en Helvetie – Zouni, Caras, Pastra, Lausanne (04) · Fine Arts Kapopoulos, Alimos (Athens) (o5) · Lola Nicolaou Art Gallery, Thessaloniki (06) · Gallery F, Karditsa · Cycladic Art Museum, Athens · Bellonio Foundation, Santorini · Gallery Eikastikos Kyclos, Athens (07) · Hellenic-German Education. Pallini 908) · After her death: European Cultural Center of Delphi, Delphi (12) · Michel Kakoyiannis Foundation, Athens (13) · Park Hotel, Athens (13) · Benaki Museum - Retrospective, Athens (16-17)
She has participated in more than 450 group exhibitions in Greece and abroad, including the Biennials of · Sao Paulo (79) · Alexandria (70) · Ljubljana (79,83,85,87) · Fredrikstad (80,82,84,86,90,92,95, 96) · Rijeka (82,84,88) · Baden Baden (83) · Krakow (86,88,91,95) · Bradford (84) · Tuzla (84) · Grenchen (85,88) · Chamalières (91) and international exhibitions in · Paris (73,74,75,77,78,90,91,93,94,95, 96) · Cagnes-s-mer (71) · Amsterdam (73,81) · Stuttgart (78) · Brussels (88,89,94) · Belgrad (80) · Skopje (78,81) · Taipei (83) · Biella (83, 87) · Warsaw (84) · Budapest (85,86,87) · Kyoto (85,86,87,88, 89) · Grenoble (89) · Wroclaw (92) · Cairo (93,97,99,03) · Bangkok (95), as well as in international meetings and congresses.
They have been edited: Monographs: A bilingual (Greek – English), concerning her work since 1964 (268 pages, 380 colored photos, Adam editions, Athens 1997) · “Course of idea – Course of form”, 1961-2003 (182 pages, 240 photos, ed. Paratiritis, Thessaloniki 2003) · “Itineraries through light and colour” (bilingual, 296 pages, 330 photos, ed. Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens 2006) · “Opy Zouni” (224 pages, 280 photos, K. Adam Publishing, Athens 2006) · Opy Zouni (144 pages, 150 photos,ed.Ta Nea, Athens 2007) · Opy Zouni – Ordo ab Chao (335 pages, 325 photos, ed. Benaki Museum, Alexandros Zounis, Athens 2016) and 20 catalogues of exhibitions. Well-known art critics have often written articles analysing her work in Greek and international specialized art journals and in the general press (Art Press, ± 0, Arte, Journal de Genève, La Suisse, Figaro, to name but a few). She has written articles which have been published in magazines and books, such as "Leonardo" (Vol 18, Nr 2, 1985) · the books: "Symmetry 2" (from the series "Computer and Mathematics", Pergamon Press) · “Arte e Tecnologia” (published by Fundaçao Calouste Gulbenkian, Lisboa, 1993) · “Symmetry 2000” (ed. Portland Press, London, 2002).
Her work is in museums and private collections in Greece, Switzerland, France, Belgium, former Yugoslavia, USA and elsewhere, among them Athens National Gallery • Athens National Sculptures Gallery • Ministry of Culture, Athens • Beograd Contemporary Art Museum • Macedonian Museum of Modern Art, Thessaloniki • Cabinet des Estampes, Genève • B.& E. Goulandris ‘ Museum of Modern Art, Andros • Sztuki Museum, Lodz • Municipal Gallery of Rhodos • Musée Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne • Ministerie Van de Vlaamse Gemeenschap, Brussels • Musum of Contemporary Art MUHKA, Antwerpen • Peter C. Ruppert collection in Museum im Kulturspreicher, Würtzburg • Athens Municipal Gallery • E. Averoff Art Gallery, Metsovo • Vorres’ Museum, Paiania, Athens etc.
