Andreas Karayan was born in Nicosia, Cyprus, in 1943.
He studied medicine at the University of Athens and graduated in 1967. He moved to London to specialise in psychiatry, but was seduced by the atmosphere of the late ‘60s and abandoned medicine in favour of art, studying at the Central and Camberwell Schools of Art. Following this, he took an engraving course in Germany and lived in Berlin for a considerable time.
In 1978, he presented his first exhibition at the Ora Gallery in Athens.
He represented Cyprus at the Venice Biennale in 2001, and at the Cairo Biennale in 2006. He also illustrated poems of K. P. Cavafy, which were published in Berlin.
From 1978 to 2004, he involved himself with journalism, theatre and cinema criticism.
After an invitation from the Library of Alexandria in 2007, he lived in the city and produced a series of works on Alexandrian themes, which were exhibited at the Library.
Nowadays, he lives and works in Nicosia, Alexandria and Athens.
