(b Corfu, 1909; d Athens, 1986). Greek sculptor. He studied drawing briefly in Corfu and in 1937 enrolled at the School of Fine Arts, Athens, where he studied sculpture under Thomas Thomopoulos, Kostas Demetriades and Mikhael Tombros. His first works were academic in nature and included busts and statues such as the Standing Female Nude on the tomb of Dem. C. Verellis at the First Cemetery in Athens. After World War II, and increasingly after 1950, he turned towards abstract compositions; his first exhibition was held in Athens in 1955. He used iron rods to create compositions based on Constructivism, but which include strong Expressionist elements (e.g. Don Quixote, iron, 1958; Athens, Min. Cult. Affairs). After 1960 he started using bronze rods, at first combining them vertically to make his sculptures seem worn by time and space, and giving an impression of deterioration, as in Composition (bronze, 1963; Athens, N.G.); later the rods were used horizontally (e.g. Drunken Boat, bronze, 1975; London, priv. col.), and finally diagonally (e.g. Bronze Rods; Athens, N. Bank of Greece). In 1976, influenced by the theories of Hegel and the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe, he became involved with environmental and conceptual art and began using different objects, inscriptions, sound and lighting in his work. This direction was further expressed with his Ladders, mainly wooden and in various sizes, perceived as symbols of ascension, effort and of the quest for knowledge. In 1985 his 10 m high ladders were placed in Faliron, near Athens. Apergis took part in numerous one-man and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad.

• Apergis, Achilleas
  • Greece, §IV: Sculpture