About the Artists
"FREEDOM" Group Exhibition Artists
RODRIGO CANHÃO, PORTUGAL
Rodrigo Canhao was born and currently live in Coimbra, Portugal-EU. He started artistic work in 1983 at the ”Círculo Artes Plásticas de Coimbra” (Coimbra’s Plastic Arts Circle) and dedicate himself to various forms of artistic creation.
Rodrigo Canhao have held exhibitions in different parts of the world. He holds degree in Multimedia and Master in Contemporary Artistic Creation by the University of Aveiro-Portugal.
DAVID STRAANGE, USA
David Straange was born in Charlotte, North Carolina in 1992. David’s work is informed by his diverse study of sculpture, Jazz, ballet, art history, analog photography, theatre, cultural communications and anthropology.
Primarily working in painting and drawing, David’s art practice also includes artist books and music. David is the son of a Fraud Bank Analyst Mother, and a Desert Storm war veteran Father. His earliest memories include gas being 99 cents, going to Burger King to get french toast sticks, (4 pieces), being afraid of grass, and listening to his brother freestyle emcee over the radio.
SUSANA NEGRE , SPAIN
Susana Negre was born in Barcelona in 1974 and lived there until 2000 when she moved to London to study and work, what would be an experience of one year turned into 12 years, having the opportunity to work worldwide and also live in Mexico and Rio de Janeiro.
Regarding her professional career, Susana is a specialist in arts management and production of international events with an experience of more than 20 years, both in the cultural and corporate fields, working to stand out in museums such as the Tate Gallery in London.
However, she is currently focused on one of her passions, art & textile design. In London she studied Art Direction in Fashion and Photography, Fashion Styling and Art Curation at Central Saint Martin’s School, University of Arts London as well as trained in management. in Cultural, having the opportunity to run its own cultural space aimed at the exhibition and promotion of the work of emerging artists and young international designers.
In 2012 she decided to return to Barcelona, taking a sabbatical and it was there that she decided to continue doing what she enjoys and inspires, and that led her to delve into the wonderful world of weaving and textiles.
Her designs, photography and artistic pieces are conceptual pieces and she explore the essence of textures, colors, volume, and she is also inspired by different cultures. She likes to explore with materials and how they can be transformed into a space and complement each other as well as she likes to combine traditional and new techniques adding her contemporary flair.
She defines herself as a creator with a passion for design, textiles, travel and photography who experiments with materials and textures. She uses the creative processes to return all her creative ideas to a physical form.
HARRY HURLOCK, UK
Harry Hurlock (b 1992, UK) is a painter and visual artist. He completed his Undergraduate Degree in Fine Art (Painting) at Camberwell College of Arts in 2014, and has just completed his MFA at the Glasgow School of Art.
Notable solo and group exhibitions include, ‘Harry Hurlock’ at Marie Blythe Gallery (solo-show, 2017), ‘Hahahaha’ at Doomed Gallery (solo-show, 2017), and a solo show at Hutt Gallery in Nottingham in 2015. Group shows include ‘Like the green fig tree, MILK x WORKPLACE, Workplace Gallery, Gateshead (2017) and Da Thirst x Baltic 39: Dawn of Justice, Baltic Contemporary, Newcastle (2017), and the 195th Annual Exhibition at the Royal Scottish Academy, 2021.
DOLORES MEPHISTOPHELES , GERMANY
Dolores Mephistopheles was born in Zagreb and is currently based in Berlin. She earned a master degree in museology and heritage management together with educational informatics at Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Zagreb.
After trying different career paths, she decided to follow her childhood dream and pursue painting as career. She combines energy work with painting and finds a lot of inspiration in dark aspects of human existence. In order to express ideas and release or transform energies, beside painting with brushes, she uses her whole body as a tool.
OLGA ZAFEIROPOULOU , GREECE
Olga Zafeiropoulou was born in 1994 in Athens, Greece. She started her art studies at Glasgow School of Art. In 2019, she graduated as a graphic designer from University of Derby, earning a scholarship due to excellent grading. Since then, she focused her artwork in ceramic design.
She has taken part in numerous workshops and group exhibitions. The vital factor of her artwork is to unfold all hidden emotions. Fears, insecurities, absence of unconditional love and broken smiles. These are the flames of her inspiration, deriving from her childhood traumas. Currently, she lives and creates in her studio in Athens.
BRIGITTE AMARGER , FRANCE
Brigitte AMARGER (b.1954, France) is a Paris-based visual and textile artist, post graduated from Applied Arts High schools and Arts University of Paris, France. (1978).
She is a Paris-based visual and textile artist who creates mural or sculptural achievements, interior and in situ installations that explore themes of nature, light, memory and human being.
Her practice includes textile and numerical techniques, laser cutting and engraving, photography, painting, mold sculpture and works predominantly with the mediums of medical imagery, handmade paper, hot glue, textile, luminescent and reflective materials.
Since 1978, AMARGER’s work has been exhibited internationally in solo and notable group exhibitions in contemporary art spaces and museums. She is best known for large-scale X Rays installations and discarded materials artworks.
Artist’s work has been included in private and public collections worldwide, featured in various publications and had numerous distinctions.
ALEXANDR SEREGIN, Russia
Aleksandr Seregin is a member of the union of young artists of Russia.
Velikiy Novgorod based artist, has been painting since 2013. Self taught. Influenced by Francis Bacon and Salvador Dali since childhood.
Originally a linguist, Aleksandr uses his tendency to analyze everything, his own thoughts and ideas, fantasies and real life. He considers a language and ability to describe the reality by language as a boundary of human being and consciousness. That’s why he came to his own style, black paintings with magic realism.
He uses bright acrylic paints on black canvases, sometimes he uses black paper. He inspired by black side of personality, individual and society, language and death.
ROMMEL MENDOZA, PHILIPPINES
Rommel Mendoza Is the Founder/Executive Director of SEC registered non profit online support group for Persons Living with HIV (PLHIV), The Courage Pllipinas PLHIV Advocacy, Care and Support Inc and thru his advocacy they have saved countless lives and still active in saving one life at a time.
He is an abstract artist and has successfully created his own unique style and technique by mixing colors of contrasting hues. Most of his works were inspired by memorable cases their organization has handled: the struggles and the success PLHIV life stories that has become an inspiration to all of his organization's followers especially those who are newly-diagnosed with HIV.
He turn to art, but he let his heart instead of hands take the brush. Now every piece he created speaks of the pain of loss, but at the same time hope as well. His art is his eulogy to all those who are struggling to survive, those who are fighting to live and to those who perished.
Judith Christine Riemer, Germany
Judith Christine Riemer is an artist based in Germany, whose paintings have been exhibited nationally, as well as in Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, the United States, and the United Arab Emirates.
The artist, born in 1975 in Braunschweig, Germany, successfully completed her degree in Interior Design at the HAWK Hildesheim in 2001. After fifteen years working as an Interior Designer, she decided to return to the roots of her creativity, and to devote all her attention to art.
Since 2016 Judith C. Riemer is refining her visual language, to make the ideas of her artistic approach tangible: Giving visibility to the hidden, which is deeply concealed in the obvious. She fuses the representational with the abstract, and blends dreams with reality. Her distinctive compositions are created with acrylics, oils, and charcoal on canvas.
In addition to her exhibition activities and international collaborations with galleries and artist networks, the artist is also volunteering for art and culture in her home town.
Since 2018, she is a member of GEDOK e.V., which is the oldest european society of female artists and art supporters.
Works by the artist are in private collections, Germany.
THELMA VAN RENSBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
Thelma was born in Pretoria, South Africa in 1969. She has a B.A Honours degree in Physical education from the University of Pretoria and a B.A Honours degree in Psychology from Unisa.
In 2004 she decided to study art full time and received her B.Tech degree in Fine Arts at Tshwane University of Technology in 2007. She completed a further Hounours degree in Fine arts at the University of Pretoria in 2013 and completed a Masters of Arts degree in Fine Arts at the University of Pretoria in 2016. She completed three artist residencies through Transart Institute for creative
practice in Berlin and Mexico between 2015 and 2018.
Since graduating, she has participated in nine solo exhibitions and numerous group exhibitions throughout South Africa. Her work has featured in prestigious competitions such as Sasol New Signatures, Thami Mnyele Fine Arts awards and theSanlam Vuleka Arts competition.
FAIZA MUBARAK, UK
Faiza is a self-taught abstract artist from the United Kingdom.
Her art is the product of who she is and is a result of her memories, experiences and dreams. Her work is greatly influenced by her diverse background, from her childhood growing up in Saudi Arabia to her British roots combined with Pakistani and Zanzibari influences.
Faiza has exhibited her work across Europe including Milan, Paris and Genoa. Upcoming exhibitions will be taking place in Monaco and several galleries in London, including the Saatchi Gallery.
RICARDO CANDIA, BELGIUM
Ricardo Candia studied at the Argentine School of Photography, Buenos Aires, Argentina and finished the Latin American Master of Contemporary Photography at the Image Center, Lima, Peru.
He is a photographer with a keen interest in alternative photography and new media, based in Antwerp, Belgium.
Various questions about the image and the constant concern to search for new forms made him investigate new articulations of photography, he seek to generate a new dialogue with different artistic practices. These questions revealed new problems on which to focus, such as different existentialisms, the symbolic value of native peoples, migratory processes and the extractive practices of natural resources.
ALINA O'DWYER , CZECH REPUBLIC
Alina O'Dwyer is an international artist who is presently residing in Prague, Czech Republic.
Alina creates one of a kind, abstract and natural life works which are always accompanied by subtle symbology and meaning.
Her primary classification is within the abstract sphere, however Alina is at home in front of a canvas, irrespective of the art category.
Alina’s works have found permanent homes in the private collections in virtually every continent, with a predominant customer base within Europe, Russia and the middle east.
Her works are original, certified one of a kind pieces, sought after by customers who truly appreciate fine art based on ecologically sourced canvas.
CAROL POCI , BRAZIL
Visual artist Carolina Poci is an example of this new artist model. Paulistana, Carolina has been in contact with art since she was a child. And what was fun in childhood and even in university, ended up occupying a place of prominence in her life, in two intersecting paths: Photography and Painting.
Carolina took versatility to the extreme and professionally chose the Medicine. An option that requires time and dedication. And the huge stress load that is part of the medical routine ended up rescuing the artistic side, as a large exhaust valve. It turns out that the love for photography was connected with the pleasure of traveling. And the memories of places, sensations, people and cultures, have gained a permanence in Carolina Poci's artistic look.
Her images have something magnetic. In addition to a color that suggests a parallel universe, something outside our physical world, there is magic in the looks that see beyond what we see. There is a special vibration and in her images, both the Greek priest and the Peruvian peasant or the Swiss tourist seem to transmit a magical power.
In each image, Carolina Poci offers us her experiences. At her exhausting struggle for life work and in the capture of a special vibe, as common element to different cultures. Her works suggest the power to circumvent death and the awareness of a common energy that makes us part of a whole infinite.
Her teaching is completed with the example that there can always be a new place, a new look, a new perspective and a blank canvas to portray the life. An invitation and a stimulus to curiosity, to a new beginning, to hope.
GAYANE ZHESTOVSKYA , RUSSIA
Gayane Zhestovskya is an artist from Krasnodar, Russia. She graduated South Federal University and worked as an architect for a long time, till she become a mother.
When her daughter was born, she decided to become an illustrator. Look inside and draw - this her slogan. She create metaphoric paintings using mostly woman images, that show my emotions and personal transformations.
VICTORIA DURYAGINA, RUSSIA
Victoria was born in Beloretsk, Russia. In 2008 she moved to the Czech Republic, where she graduated from the university with an IT degree. Worked as digital illustrator for books and video games. In 2019-2020 she studied on the course of contemporary art and decided to start her career in contemporary art field.
In her works, she explores the topic of escapism and virtual reality through the prism of psychological instability.
For creating her works, she uses digital media that allows to overlay, manipulate, and destruct easily to get random combinations. And combining traditional techniques with digital ones allows her to stay on the edge of the real and virtual world. In all these, she sees an opportunity for going beyond the boundaries of the system.
CARLA PIACENZA , BELGIUM
Carla Piacenza (b.1979, Argentina). Based in Belgium.
She studied film at the National University of Córdoba, Argentina and completed the Latin American Master of Contemporary Photography at the Image Center of Lima, Peru.
She has shown her works in group and solo exhibitions in Argentina, Peru, Holland and Italy.
Her work addresses issues that are related to nature and human behavior. Thus, she reflects on gender through landscapes and urban views, explores the sense of identity in society, analyzes migration from my perspective as an immigrant, or proposes a discussion on the environment and climate change.
Taking resources from science and psychology, and transforming them into visual poetics, the works are presented as hypothetical and experiential ideas seeking to decode a personal argument.
The films taught her to tell stories in all their dimensions and, from there, she resorts to the freedom to experiment by the use of different media and formats for the realization of her projects, be it photography, video, installations or publications.
OLGA RYZHKOVA, RUSSIA
Olga Ryzhkova was born in 1982 in Serov, Sverdlovsk region, Russia.
She graduated Ural State University of Architecture and Art by profession an artist and artist-decorator in 2013. Live and works in Yekaterinburg, Russia.
Olga is an independent professional artist whose works are in private collections in Europe, Russia and the USA.
The artist explores the problem of the manifestation of the whole spectrum of human emotions in society. Olga explores emotions not only as an observer, but also experiences them herself through real events in her life. Analyzes the space of emotions from the standpoint of an observer, from the standpoint of an accomplice and from the standpoint of an actor-creator of emotions.
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JANA TITKOVA , RUSSIA
Yana Titkova was born in Russia, in the small town of Penza in 1993. Interest in art began to manifest itself in early childhood. As she grew up, she entered art school, which helped develop a sense of beauty. Participation in many children's competitions helped to find a goal for further activities.
Yana graduated from the University of Architecture and Construction as an artist-designer in 2015. But for a long time She could not find herself and for some time stopped picking up brushes and paints at all. After receiving a second pedagogical education and working with children, Yana realized how much she lacked creativity.
The turning point was the art courses in St. Petersburg in 2020, graduated with honors. They revived in her an irresistible desire to draw. She really wanted to convey to people her attitude and worldview. Help others to «look inside themselves» through creativity. Therefore, abstract painting became very close to her. The images that Yana takes from nature and everyday life are only part of the meaning that is contained in her paintings.
Her little son became an important figure in her work. He helped to find harmony between color and emotion and laid the foundation for some of the paintings.
At the beginning of 2021, Yana organized her first solo exhibition. Began to participate in online competition. One of them was the International online contemporary art competition «Emogy».
Yana currently lives and works in Penza.
LENA SILVA , UK
Lena Silva is a contemporary, modern artist, of Portuguese origin, resident in the United Kingdom. A lover of Arts, sophistication and simplicity greatly influenced by Renaissance art period. Patron to the Florence Academy of Arts. Oftentimes, while creating her pieces, albeit using varied mediums, its meaning becomes clear once the colours absorb light. She often gets a sense of belonging, an escape from the acrimony of daily life and chaos of society.
Through her work, Lena aims to evoke light, love, happiness, and tranquillity, gifted to the observer. Her work is also an expression of her wondering of human's survival, persistence, and perpetuity of life—a fascination with life and its meaning, its consanguinity relating directly to the beauty of the experience. Lena's artistic skills, through growing as a young adult, laid dormant, deciding to apply her focus and dedication to her small family.
Lena is a self-taught artist with a BSc Honours in Adult Health Sciences. The latest years of her life have seen a glimmering, sparkle of light in her soul, waking up her artistic skills that flourish steadily. Lena is a lover of poetry and often finds it comforting to describes the emotive and story side of her work through such beautiful poetic words. Lena has participated in the last few years in the worldwide known Luxembourg Arts Prize. Lena's work has been at exhibitions and art fairs in London, Brussels, Madrid, Italy – Genova, Milan.
ELIZABETH CHERNYSHOVA, RUSSIA
Elizabeth Chernyshova is a Moscow based artist. Started in late 2016, making fanart for her favorite music band.
Today Elizabeth is focused on her artistic process and development of her vision. She works and experiments with various styles, techniques and materials. Her current projects include a lot of contemporary art pieces, abstract paintings, illustrations, collages and photography.
Always in search of ideas, dreaming big, making it real, never giving up.
