Demosthenis Kokkinidis was born in Piraeus and studied at the School of Fine Arts, Athens under Spyros Papaloukas and Yiannis Moralis.

He was a founding member of the Alpha Art Group, the ‘Τομή’ Group and the Group for Communication and Education in Art.

Between 1959 and 1961, while he held the position of head of the art department of the National Organization for Greek Handicrafts, had an active interest in the development of Island pottery.

He was awarded a scholarship from the Ford Foundation in 1972.  

In 1976, he was elected a professor at the Athens School of Fine Arts, a position he held until 1997 and between 1980-1982 as a rector (in the sphere of academia this is the highest academic position).

Kokkinidis was always aware of the social role of art and that it should operate at all levels of everyday life. His style may be defined as abstract representationalism, with colour-bright, intense, almost expressionistic feeling.

He attaches particular importance to critical commentary on current affairs. At the end of the '80s, he ceased making direct references to political issues, and his thematic repertory started to focus on people's need to communicate with each other and with nature.

He held many solo exhibitions in Greece and participated in several group exhibitions internationally such as in 1978 at the Tre Grekiska Utstallningar, Stockholm and in 1982 at the Europalia, Brussels.

His work can be found at the National Gallery, Athens, the Benaki Museum, the Municipal Gallery of Athens and Piraeus, the National Bank of Greece Cultural Foundation and in many private collections in Greece and internationally.