ABOUT
A little background on Natalie's work and what inspires her.
Natalie Papamichael (b. Slough, UK 1971) is a Contemporary Figurative Artist. She grew up in the UK and is of Greek and French heritage. Her work has developed from a dialogue between her personal experiences, her study of Art History and Psychoanalysis. She began exhibiting her work whilst living in Paris in the early 1990s and returned to the UK in 1996 to study. She studied Fine Art at Central Saint Martins and Art History at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London. It was during this period that she became interested in the Feminist Artist of the 1970s and began creating her own performances. As a challenge to the exclusion of Women Artists from Art History and Academic Training and in order to combine her studio practice with her research she went to Angel Academy in Florence, Italy for a short course on the Classical Paintng techniques of the Old Masters.
Whilst she has always referenced the political in her work, she was galvanized to move away from an overtly feminist message to a more explicitly political message, reflecting the current political climate. She has continued to use performance and self-portraiture with her work, creating new narratives and frequently referencing Fine Art, Literature and pertinent classic films such as La Jetêe, Fahrenheit 451, The Seventh Seal and The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. The curtailment of freedom speech meant that she has developed a way of working and communicating that her enabled her to try to circumvent censorship and to raise questions that were verbally being forbidden. In order to reach a wider audience and as another means of bypassing the attacks on our freedoms of speech she also began creating clothing, merging fashion with a political statement.
Natalie Papamichael has her work in private collections and has exhibited widely. She has spoken about her practice as part of 'InPractice' at the Royal Academy of Art, London and 'Share Art' at Pallant House Gallery, Chichester. She currently lives and works in Brighton, UK.
Resumé
2007 Angel Academy of Art, Intensive Painting Course, Florence
2007 MA History of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, London
2002 BA Fine Art (Hons), Central Saint Martins College, London
Solo Exhibitions
2019 The Society of Outsiders, Phoenix Window Gallery, Brighton
2003 Herstory, Brighton Fringe Festival, Brighton
1994 Paintings from Sainte-Anne, Finnegans Wake, Paris
Group Exhibitions
2021 Wakey, Wakey, Gallery 40, Brighton
2021 Keep Smiling, The Barn, Alfriston
2021 The Kiss, Gallery Different, London
2018 Muse, Model or Mistress, Gallery Different, London
2018 Summer Showcase, Gallery Different, London
2016 Phoenix Open, Phoenix, Brighton
2014 Shape Gallery, Westfield Stratford, London
2013 Shape at Liberty Festival, London
2013 Shape in the City, Pop Up Gallery, London
2012 Civil Partnerships, University of Brighton,
2010 Dream Home, Phoenix, Brighton
2010 Phoenix Open, Phoenix, Brighton
2009 Phoenix Open, Phoenix, Brighton
2003 Chixx, Tavistock Theater, London
2001 Foreign Bodies, SHTM, London
2001 Women Artists, People Show, London
2001 Tinted Spectacles, The Stephen Lawrence Gallery, London
Other
2016 Presentation at V&A, Botticelli Re-Imagined, Alchemy Arts
2016 InPractice at the Royal Academy, Royal Academy of Arts
2015 InPractice at the Royal Academy, Royal Academy of Arts
2013 Presentation at Civil Partnerships, University of Brighton
2001 Intern, Women’s Art Library, London
Interviews and Articles
2013 Jensen, Olu, Revolting Doubles: Radical Narcissus and the Trope of Lesbian Doppelgangers, Journal of Lesbian Studies
2010 Interview, Radio Reverb, Brighton
2002 MAKE the magazine of Women’s Art, online graduate review.