Apostolos Fanakidis was born in 1945 in Evros, Northern Greece.

At the end of the Greek Civil War, his family moved to Budapest and following the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, they settled in Sofia, Bulgaria. From 1967 to 1972, he studied in the department of monumental sculpture at the Academy of Fine Arts 'Nikolaj Pavlonic’, Sofia. In 1977 Fanakidis returned permanently to Greece.

His work can be placed in the sphere of abstract expressionism, where the human form is treated in either a cubic or constructivist manner, and the body is represented naked from its religious and ideological myths.

From May to September 2010, the B&M Theocharakis Foundation staged a large-scale retrospective of Fanakidis (together with Lazaros Lameras). He exhibited works of the period 2000-2010. Quoting Takis Mavrotas, the exhibition's curator: ‘The sculptor focuses his interest on the unprecedented beauty of form and colour, the narrative alternations and the expressive emotions through the distortions he introduces in his work. Several of his creations tend to the surreal to meet the indefinite and the dream.'

Fanakidis held many solo exhibitions such as at the AlphaDelta Gallery, Athens (1988, 1992). He also participated in several prestigious group exhibitions such as the Budapest Sculpture Biennale (1979, 1981). At the 1981 Budapest Sculpture Biennale, he was awarded the gold medal.

Large scale outdoor sculptures by Fanakidis can be admired in public spaces in Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Netherlands and the USA. Additionally, works can be found in Blagoevgrad Museum, Bulgaria and the Vorres Museum, Athens.