Stella Kapezanou
Overview
“Through pop aesthetics and the infusion of a caustic humour, I criticise toxic masculinity and male dominance while praising vulnerability and leaning into irony.” - Stella Kapezanou
Stella Kapezanou's works explore cold intimacy rendered in warm colours on enveloping large canvases. The female body dominates her compositions, with self-assured figures who assert themselves with poise and pride. Through pop aesthetics and the infusion of a caustic humour, she criticises toxic masculinity and male dominance while praising vulnerability and leaning into irony. The eccentric individuals pictured in her works are often locked in complicated exchanges, scenarios into which the viewer is uncomfortably plunged.
Beyond dissecting the power dynamics of masculinity, Kapezanou is also interested in critiquing decadence, picturing modern lifestyles predicated on opulence and consumerism. Her subtle commentary is often lost on the complacent viewer, hidden in the casual exchanges between the superficial figures pictured in cheerful futility. Naked and semi-naked bodies are trapped in sulky or haughty gazes, underlining the ambiguous intentions that prevail in interpersonal relationships between the very wealthy.
Deploying the tableau vivant technique as a method of storytelling, Kapezanou’s compositions are meticulously arranged. To create each tableau, the artist selects a location, directs the competition and photographs models enacting her imaginary scenes.
Her figures are often framed by landscapes reminiscent of wallpapers and surrounded by symbolic objects, mysterious animals, and elaborate elements, allowing the uncanny and the imaginary to act as an extension of reality. Alongside her paintings, Kapezanou also works in ceramics, producing sarcastic objects that echo common motifs and aesthetics seen throughout her practice.
Biography
Stella Kapezanou (b.1977, Greece) is an artist based in Athens. Between 2011 and 2015 she studied painting at the Athens School of Fine Arts (ASFA), where she received an award and an honorary scholarship from the State Scholarships Foundation (IKY) for achieving first place in the entrance examinations. In 2017, she graduated from an MA at Chelsea College of Arts in London which was fully funded by a double Motoroil Hellas and the Sir Frank Bowling Scholarship.
Kapezanou was recently awarded the Fulbright Artist Award 2023-2024 for participation in the Santa Fe Art Institute’s International Thematic Residency Program in New Mexico, USA. Previously she was awarded the Clyde & Co Emerging Star Award (2017) and the Cass Art Prize (2018) among many other prizes, and has undertaken residencies with renowned institutions and programs, such as the Munich Academy of Fine Arts (ADBK) Academic Exchange (2023), the Goethe-Institute Bonn in Cologne and Berlin (2014), AucArt LAB Residency in London (2019), iAR Residency in Istanbul (2020), and CARV Residency in Cyprus (2023).
She has presented multiple solo exhibition including: Let Them Stare (The Edit Gallery, Limassol, CY, 2022); Theodoros & Laskarina exclusive (Fougaro, Nafplio, GR, 2021); Baby One More Time (Evripides Gallery, Athens, GR, 2020); Just a Few Drops of Pink Coppertone (Fougaro, Nafplio, GR, 2019); Single’s Party (The Edit Gallery, Limassol, CY, 2019); Brit Pond (Evripides Gallery, Athens, GR, 2018) and From Heavens with Love (The Palm Tree Gallery, London, UK, 2018).
Her work has been featured in group exhibitions with galleries including: Fougaro, Nafplio, GR (2023); The Edit Gallery, Nicosia, CY (2022); Zoumboulakis Galleries, Athens, GR (2021); BcmA Gallery, Berlin, DE (2021); The Edit Gallery, Limasson, CY (2021); Akaretler Gallery, Istanbul, TR (2020); Frissiras Museum, Athens, GR (2019); Chelsea Gallery, London, UK (2019); Galerie Benjamin Eck, Munich, DE (2018); Four Corners Gallery, London, UK (2017); The Cello Factory, London, UK (2017); Piano Nobile Kings Place, London, UK (2017); Art Bermondsey Project Space, London, UK (2017); Frissiras Museum, Athens, GR (2015); Theocharakis Foundation, Athens, GR (2014) and Lothringer Laden, Munich, DE (2013).
Works
