James Fardoulys (1900–75) was born in Kythera in Greece and came to Australia in 1914. In his youth he worked in cafes in south-western Queensland, married a ventriloquist and conducted his own troupe of performers in the country. When the Olympia Café at Goondiwindi was destroyed by fire in 1931 he and his family came to Brisbane where he worked as a taxi driver for the next 29 years.

After his retirement, Fardoulys began to paint seriously and by the time of his death had a substantial output of paintings. Naïve art became generally appreciated throughout Australia from the early 1960s and James Fardoulys's work was enthusiastically promoted by local art critic Dr Gertrude Langer and artist Roy Churcher. During his short burst of activity, Fardoulys became one of the most prominent and widely appreciated naïve painters in Australia.