Academic sculptor and painter Nikos Armutidis in his studio, March 10, 2023, Veverské Knínice, Brno.
Veverské Knínice (Brno) – Nikos Armutidis, a sculptor from Veverské Knínice in Brno, will celebrate his 70th birthday on Tuesday. He is not preparing any exhibition that would map his work. “I've never really noticed anniversaries, I often don't even remember that it's my birthday. When people around me remind me of it, and that's never been pleasant for me. I've always realized that I don't carry other people's birthdays in my head,” the author of the bust of Jan Werich told ČTK in Prague's Kampa or Vladimír Menšík in Ivančice.
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He therefore considers the exhibition he had with his wife, photographer Irena Armutidisová, in 2021 at the Regional Gallery of Fine Arts in Zlín to be an annual event. “I don't organize anything myself, but if someone approaches me, I don't resist. In my seventies, I'm now waiting for a logical question: 'What else do you really want here?',” he remarked with exaggeration.
He received his education at the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Brno. He considers high school to be a more fundamental part of his education, more important than his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. He does not want to name any of his role models, because there are more of them and he would not like to forget someone. “You have them in your head when you create something, you hear what they would say about your efforts,” commented Armutidis, who also paints.
His sculptural works include a number of figurative works or busts, as well as memorial plaques, but also free creation, which is what he currently devotes himself to the most. He appreciates the freedom of creation and the freedom of perception in it.
His most recent figural commission was a statue of Jan Amos Comenius for Velka Biteš in 2019. The co-author of the sculpture is his daughter Irena Armutidisová Jr., who still shares the studio with him. “I was working on him and suddenly a voice behind me said, 'But he wasn't a murderer!' She worked on him and suddenly Amos didn't look so murderous anymore. In the meantime, they also approved the shape of the statue, which is why he is listed as a co-author,” described the sculptor.
Dozens, maybe hundreds of works came from his hands, but he himself is doesn't count. In recent years, the pace of his work has slowed down. “That's probably clear. It can't be said that I'm going to spew one thing after another now. If I was working fanatically now, what does that say about my past activity?” he added.
