Stella Kapezanou

Athens-based Greek artist Stella Kapezanou is internationally recognised for her bright figurative paintings which bring together the banal and the exotic. Stella’s vibrant canvases of eccentric characters and settings offer a cheerful yet relevant commentary on the western consumer dream and materialist culture.

Stella Kapezanou’s Style and Approach

Stella’s paintings are often set against a backdrop of hedonism, are tonally optimistic and pleasantly ironic. Her vivid landscape pieces and quirky portraits of animals such as Sunset and Greener Grass offer a light-hearted critique of the hypocrisies of capitalist society and materialist culture, all the whilst filling observers with a warmth and nostalgia for genuine human connection. Stella’s sunny and sanguine scenes are painted from memory, usually inspired by magazine cutouts, childhood memories or family emblems. Her portraits endeavour to capture the soul and emotion of personalities normally judged solely on their external appearance.

Awards and Exhibitions

Stella has taken part in collective shows in Athens, London and Munich. Her solo exhibitions have been enjoyed throughout Europe too. Stella was awarded the Clyde & Co Emerging Star Award in 2016 for the work she produced while pursuing her MA at the Chelsea College of Arts, London. The artist has also been one of our 25 Rise Art Prize finalists, and the recipient of several scholarships for her contribution to the arts, including from the Greek National Scholarships Foundation and the Athens School of Fine Arts Award.

To find out more about the ideas underscoring Stella’s stylised representations of modern life, read our interview with the artist.