Bluebrick Studios

" A patch of weeds along a busy road, on a city sidewalk, or in a public park is something that often escapes attention, yet close-up these Urban Wilds depict a fascinating world of random shapes, bold colors, varied textures, and beautiful patterns. These types of natural distractions serve as a major inspiration in my work and provide escape from a world dominated by asphalt and concrete "

I'm a Boston artist born and raised in Massachusetts. I taught myself to paint while growing up in the town of Westborough, Massachusetts. I continued to develop my skills and technique over the years and went on to formally study Art in New York, at Hofstra University, where I earned a B.A. in both Art History and Film, with studio concentrations in painting and photography. During and immediately after college I worked in the field of film and animation. I presently live and paint in the South End of Boston.

My father is a Greek immigrant born and raised in Khartoum, Sudan and my mother is Croatian from Zagreb. My parents met while both were attending school in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Shortly after their marriage, they moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts so my father could attend grad school at MIT.

My last name, while not Greek in origin, is the legacy of a distant ancestor who came from the city of Hama, Syria, a 3000+ year old city with a large Greek Orthodox community. (Hamawi translated means "from Hama") My great grandfather, George Hamawi, lived in Alexandria, Egypt and he met and married my great grandmother, Erifili Georganas, a Greek woman originally from Mytiline (an ancient city, and capital of the Island of Lesvos, Greece). Shortly thereafter, they moved to Sudan where both my grandfather and father were born.

My great grandmother, Erifili, was also the sister of the famous Greek painter Vasileios Ithakisios (Georganas). Ithakisios, my great uncle, is known for his paintings of Mount Olympus where he lived and painted, from a home he built in a cave on the mountain, for 20 years.

Because of that diverse heritage, I was exposed to a wide variety of cultures and landscapes at an early age, travelling often to see family in Africa, Greece, and Croatia. And most of my childhood summers were spent with my relatives in Istria, Croatia where I still visit very often for inspiration and to relax among one of the world's most beautiful coastlines.

My most recent nature paintings were inspired from finding diverse and intriguing nature scenes along a roadside, by a shoreline, on a sidewalk, or in a city park. These fairly common, but less celebrated subjects like weeds, leaves, grasses, and rocks, when viewed close up, offer a glimpse into a more abstract micro-world of varying colors, patterns, textures, and shapes. Many of these familiar subjects can be found in even the most congested and inhospitable of urban environments, and yet due to their widespread nature, are routinely ignored.

My next series of nature paintings will be collectively titled "Urban Wilds" after both my 2007 Oil painting and my 2009 Copley Square Paintbox Mural. I'll be interpreting a wide variety of naturally occuring grasses, wildflowers, weeds, leaves, and anything green and growing through asphalt and concrete in the City of Boston. Part of the planning and preparation for this new series involves taking long walks from my studio every week. I typically walk for 4 or 5 miles to some lesser known part of our city and photograph the wildflowers and grasses I find, and bring some samples back to my studio. I'll be starting up a new blog on my site that documents this. I discover so many amazing new things about our city in the process and I think that might be interesting to others. I've also recently ventured into the art of mosaics, inspired by my many visits to Italy, Croatia, and Greece over the years. You can see photos of the most recent mosaic project I completed by going to the "Design Services" section of this website or by clicking here.

My artwork has been displayed at various galleries and venues throughout Boston and New York, including the Kingston Gallery, The Institute of Contemporary Art, The Cyclorama, The Courtyard Gallery, the Shelter Rock Gallery (NY), Legacy Gallery, Arclinea Boston, SoWa Art Walk, and The South End Open Studios. Both my artwork and Bluebrick Studios have received mention in a variety of local and national publications including American Art Collector, Art New England, The Boston Globe, The Improper Bostonian, Boston Magazine, InNewsweekly, New England Blade, The Boston Courant, and The South End News.

All my paintings are signed "Christos" in cadmium red, on the lower right hand corner. All limited edition Giclee prints are re-signed in blue pencil beneath the original red signature.

If you have any questions or would like to share your thoughts, please send an e-mail to: