Ilias Papailiakis was born in Crete in 1970. He is one of the most active and acclaimed Greek contemporary painters. He lives and works in Athens.

He studied painting at Athens School of Fine Arts, Athens, 1990-1996. In 1998 he was awarded the first prize of Yiannis and Zoe Spyropoulos Foundation. In 2001 he represented Greece at La Biennale di Venezia, 49th International Exhibition of Art. In 2001 the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art organized a retrospective exhibition with works from the period 1996-2001. In 2009 the Hellenic Foundation for Culture  organized a retrospective exhibition with works that belonged to German collections from the period 2005-2009. In 2013 he was one of the six shortlisted artists for the “Deste” foundation prize. In 2017 he participated in documenta 14, Kassel-Athens. In 2018 he participated in Athens Biennale 2018, ANTI. In 2020 the Municipal Art Gallery of Athens, organized a retrospective exhibition with works from the period 2017-2020. He has presented his work in more than 25 solo exhibitions in Greece and abroad. His work can be found at both private and public collections.