The artist & the process
George Petrides
Athens and New York. Personal memory, cultural history, and the human figure.
George Petrides in the studio.
The sculptor
Born in Athens in 1964 and based in Athens and New York, George Petrides makes public sculpture and traveling exhibitions. His work brings personal narrative and cultural heritage together through the human figure.
Drawing on his Greek-American heritage, he combines traditional sculptural methods with digital fabrication. His process begins in clay and moves through 3D scanning, digital sculpting, and custom fabrication in recycled and upcycled materials. Each work is then reworked and finished by hand. Other works are cast in bronze.
Education and background
Petrides studied Classics at Harvard College (B.A., 1985) and pursued graduate study at Stanford University (M.B.A. and M.A., 1993).
He began studying and practicing art part-time in 1996 while working in international finance, including senior roles at Lazard Frères and Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. He first enrolled at the New York Studio School of Drawing, Painting and Sculpture in 2001, continued his studies over the following two decades, and received a Certificate in Sculpture in 2022. In 2017, he committed to art full-time.
Inside the studio
Clay. Code. The hand.
Traditional modeling and digital fabrication become parts of the same sculptural conversation.
Find the form.
A work begins in clay, with the direct encounter between a person, an idea, and the sculptor’s hand.
Explore the scale.
Scanning and digital sculpting allow the form to develop. Printed works can be assembled from recycled PETG around a metal skeleton.
Return to the surface.
The form is cut and rebuilt by hand, then cast in bronze or given a real-metal coating. Patinas bring out the finished surface.