Filopoulou Maria (1964)

Born in Athens in 1964, she studied painting under L. Cremonini at the École Nationale des Beaux Arts in Paris (1984-1988), where she continued with postgraduate studies on a French government scholarship (1988-1989).
Her first solo exhibition was held at the Ora Gallery in Athens in 1990. Her representational painting usually appears on large canvases which underscore the feeling of space and light.
In her first phase she is inspired by the indoor spaces of studios from her student years in Paris, and she experiments with focus and the diffraction of light. She presents wide-angle views of helical staircases with multiple vanishing points. In her next phase her interest shifts out of doors, and she depicts abandoned greenhouses as interim spaces between interior and exterior, with nature reclaiming the manmade environment. The next major element in her work is the sea, as her studies in colour and light focus on seaside landscapes and water, with nude human bodies incorporated in her compositions; swimmers become her main field of study and experimentation. She stresses the sense of freedom and eroticism as well as the autonomy of the figures, creating a hedonistic atmosphere through the reflections of light and the iridescent patterns of the sea.
She has had many solo exhibitions and participated in group shows in Greece and abroad, including “In arte veritas” at the Kydonieos Foundation (2005) and “Reflections from Greece” at The National Arts Club in New York (2006). In 2009 she presented a retrospective at the Cycladic Gallery in Hermoupolis, Syros.
Her works can be found in the collections of the National Gallery and the Hellenic Parliament as well as in private museums and collections in Greece and abroad.