Chryssa (1933 – 2013) was born in 1933 in Athens. She studied at the Academie de la Grande Chaumière (1953-1954) in Paris and the California School of Fine Arts (1954-1955) in San Francisco, U.S.A. She has been living in New York City, since 1955. She organized her first solo exhibition there (Betty Parsons gallery, 1961), and that same year she also exhibited at the Guggenheim Museum. Her work was soon recognized in the American art world, as part of the fresh artistic approaches that succeeded abstract expressionism.
She draws inspiration from modern life images and metropolitan incidents, with particular emphasis on signs and symbols that dominate the written language of mass communications, on print media and inscriptions. The purely artistic approach of the linguistic symbols was already evident in her early works (paintings, reliefs or three-dimensional), such as the thematic unit Cycladic Books (1957-1962). In the 1960’s she developed the most well-known feature of her work, the use of illuminated neon tubes in different shapes and colours, a clear reference to the radiance of billboards (The Gates of Times Square, 1964-1966).
In her usually large-sized sculptures, she uses several techniques and materials (aluminum, steel, plexiglas, neon). Her materials manage to convey the subtle nuances of an entirely personal sensitivity, despite their technological nature. The sculptor’s vision is expressed through play with light and shadow, the harmonious arrangement of the compositions, the emblematic ideograms and the allusions to ancient Greece, Byzantium or the female personality.
She worked in Greece for a while in the early ‘90s, where she created a series of works (Cinema Oasis), using an old movie theatre as her studio.
She has presented numerous solo exhibitions in America and Europe, including shows in major galleries and museums. She participated in group exhibitions and international art fairs, such as the Biennales of Sao Paulo (1963 and 1969) and Venice (1972) and in Documenta 4 (Kassel, 1977). Her first solo exhibition in Greece was presented in 1979 (Zoumboulakis gallery, Athens) and her retrospective exhibition was held at the Athens National Art Gallery in 1980.
Many of her creations are located in public places in several parts of the world. The most famous ones in Athens are Clytemnestra (1967), situated in the external area of the Athens Concert Hall, and Mott Street, which was placed at the ‘Evangelismos’ metro station in 2004.

Solo exhibitions (selection)
2022 Museum Alex Mylona, Athens, Greece
2005 Mihalarias Art, Athens, Greece
2004 Astrolavos Art Galleries, Athens, Greece
2000 European Cultural Centre of Delphi, Delphi, Greece
1997 Museum of Cycladic Art, Athens, Greece
1996 Leo Castelli, New York, USA
1988 Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, Greece
1986 Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, Greece
1982 Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, Florida, USA
1981 Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, Greece
1980 National Gallery-Alexandros Soutsos Museum, Athens, Greece
1979 Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, Greece
1979 Musee d΄Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
1974 Musee d΄Art Contemporain, Montreal, Canada
1973 Denise Rene, New York, USA
1972 Witney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
1970 Galleria d΄Arte Contemporanea, Torino, Italy
1968 Harvard University, Massachusetts, USA
1966 Pace Gallery, New York, USA
1965 Institute of Modern Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (Pennsylvania), USA
1963 Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
1961 The Solomon Guggenheim Museum, New York, USA

Group Exhibitions (selection)
2018 At the Beginning Was the Word-Concepts-Images-Script, National Art Museum of China (NAMOC), Beijing, China
2015 Art Hellenique, Piasa, Paris, France
2012 Sonic Time, logos/ehos/siopi, National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, Greece
2011 Polyglossia, Onassis Stegi, Αthens, Greece
2008 Transexperience Greece 2008, 798 Space, Beijing, China
2007 Ithaca Regained: Greek Artists in New York, Kouros Gallery, New York, USA
2004 7+7 From the collections of EMST, Megaron the Athens Concert Hall, Athens, Greece
1999 Greek Suite, Wigmore Fine Art, London, United Kingdom
1999 Greeks of the world, European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium
1999 Modern Odysseys. Greek American Artists of the 20th Century, Queens Museum of Art, New York, USA
1994 Fiac 1994, Grand Palais, Paris, France
1992 Metamorphoses of the Modern: The Greek Experience, National Gallery of Art-Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athens, Greece
1986 Cryssa-Rauschenberg-Warhol, Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, Greece
1983 Electra, Musee dArt moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris, France
1979 Chryssa, Musee d΄Art Moderne, Paris, France
1975 Eight Artists, Eight Attitudes, Eight Greeks, The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA), London, United Kingdom
1975 Pour Chupre, Musee Galliera, Paris, France
1972 36 Biennale di Venezia 1972, Venice, Italy
1969 X Bienal De Sao Paolo, Sao Paolo, Brazil
1967 Group Show, Museum of Modern Art, New York, USA
1967 Light and Motion, Worcester Art Museum, USA
1964 Group Show Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA