Stella Kapezanou

Stella Kapezanou is a visual artist based in Athens, Greece. She holds an Integrated Master’s Degree in Painting from Athens School of Fine Arts where she received an honorary scholarship from the State Scholarship Foundation (IKY) for achieving the first place in the entrance examinations. She also holds a Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from the Chelsea College of Arts, London, UK, where she studied under a fully funded, double scholarship from Motoroil Hellas and the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship.

She is the recipient of the Fulbright Foundation Artistic Scholarship 2024 for the international artist residency at the Santa Fe Art Institute in New Mexico, USA, where she explored the concept of sovereignty as a power emanating from the female body, further developing the research around issues of gender, bodily autonomy, and self-determination that characterizes her work.

In 2024, Stella Kapezanou signs the new visual identity of the 65th Thessaloniki International Film Festival.

Kapezanou’s painting aims to unravel the intricacies of human existence by depicting a state of cold intimacy found within the distant contemporary everyday life. Through vibrant colors and large scale, her works articulate subtle commentaries around consumerism up to the excesses of opulence and decadence. In parallel, by working in ceramic, she creates sculptural objects that echo the common motifs and aesthetics found throughout her artistic practice. She has been awarded the Clyde & Co Emerging Star Award, as well as the Cass Art Prize and she has participated as an artist-in-residence in renowned institutions and residency programs such as CARV Residency, Cyprus (2023), iAR Residency, Instabul (2020), AucArt LAB Residency, London (2019), Goethe-Institute Bonn, Cologne and Berlin (2014) etc.

She has presented her work internationally in solo exhibitions, with most recent Corn Maidens, The Opening Gallery, New York (2024). Finally, group shows include Unapologetic WomXn, Ross Sutton Gallery, Venice, Italy (2024); Sunburn, Studio West Gallery, London, UK (2023); Stigma, Dromokaitio Phychiatric Hospital of Athens, GR (2023); Now Women, Fougaro, Nafplio, GR (2023); Contemporary Now, The Edit Gallery, Nicosia, CY (2022); Lusus Naturae, BcmA Gallery, Berlin, DE (2021); iAR Project, Akaretler Gallery, Istanbul, TR (2020); Love is a Dog from Hell, Frissiras Museum, Athens, GR (2019).