Born in a mountain village in southern Greece, Stephen Antonakos moved to New York with his family in 1930. After serving in World War II, he studied art at Brooklyn Community College. Antonakos began his career as an illustrator in the 1950s, though continued to make paintings, drawings, and, increasingly, collages of found objects. In 1960, Antonakos introduced neon into his collages and it soon became his primary medium. By the mid-sixties, Antonakos had moved into a studio on Greene Street in SoHo, and was drawing designs for large-scale, site-specific neon installations. In 1974, the artist was commissioned to produce 10 Outdoor Neons for the exterior of the Fort Worth Art Museum, and he continues to produce large, public neon installations around the United States, Europe, and Japan, as well as interior neons, drawings, and artist’s books.
