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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.

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