CURRICULUM VITAE
Born in Rome, Italy 1970, raised in USA, currently residing and working in Porto, Portugal.
EDUCATION
Atelier Arte Realista de Porto, Fundamentals of Figure Drawing – 2016-2019
Harvard University, MA Russian & Economics – 1993-1995
Oxford University, BA Politics, Philosophy & Economics – 1989-1993
Middlebury College, Advanced Russian – 1990
STUDIO PRACTICE 2016-PRESENT
My ambition is to incorporate research and communication skills from decades of work in capital markets into a multidisciplinary studio practice rooted in but not confined to representational art and academic method. Faces are an endless source of fascination and inspiration for me, and in my practice I seek to explore ideas relating to identity and inheritance. Who are we? What are we made of? That aesthetic traces of the Classical world have survived into the 21st century may be our greatest inheritance. I accept commissions in graphite, charcoal, ink, watercolor and oil.
EXHIBITIONS
2024 ‘Music of the Spheres’, Museu dos Terceiros, Group Exhibit, Ponte de Lima - Sound & Vision, portrait triptych, oil on panel; In the Days of My Youth, portrait diptych, oil on panel, 18x24cm each
2023 ‘Maracujalia’, Museu Soares dos Reis, Group Exhibit, Porto - Boxer at Rest/ Muse Musings, oil on panel/ graphite on verso, 50x70cm
2023 ‘The Eternal Feminine’ Museu dos Terceiros, Group Exhibit, Ponte de Lima - Death & the Maiden, alla prima portrait, oil on panel, 12x42cm; The Protagonist, diptych, alla prima portrait, 22x30cm each
2022 ‘The Elements’, Museu dos Terceiros, Group Exhibit, Ponte de Lima - Rare Earth, figure in landscape, diptych, oil and pigment on canvas, 60x80cm each
2022 ‘Metamorphoses’, Municipal Gallery of Lousada - MMiguel, portrait, oil on panel, 20x25cm
2022 Teixeira de Pascoaes Centenary Exhibit, Museu Amadeo de Souza Cardoso, Group Exhibit, Amarante - Rivers of Gold, landscapes, oil on paper, 22x30cm each
2021 4th Gaia International Art Biennial, Gaia - Kingdom Come, triptych, oil on canvas, 60x80cm each
2021 Moita Biennial of Small Format Painting, Lisbon - Rare Bird, portrait, oil on panel, 20x25cm
2021 Art’InLima Annual Open Call, Ponte de Lima - Ascent, oil, charcoal & pigment on canvas, 70x100cm
2020 3rd Almada Drawing Biennial, Lisbon - Tractatus, a portrait-sculpture of the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein shortlisted for the Pedro de Sousa Prize, 18x20x5cm
2020 Amalia Rodrigues Centenary Exhibition, Galeria Antonio Prates, Lisbon - Disse Adeus e Morri, oil on panel, 30x30cm
RESIDENCIES, AWARDS
2024 First Artist in Residence, Tinhela610 Wilderness Sanctuary, Tras-Os-Montes, Portugal - Stone & Sky, painting with foraged pigments
2022 La Joya Artist in Residence, Velez Blanco, Spain - Portrait as Landscape, Landscape as Portrait
2021 Kyle House Art Residency, Sutherland, Scotland - Forestry in Paint
2020 3rd Almada Drawing Biennial, Lisbon - shortlisted for the Pedro de Sousa Prize
2016 Philips Weeks Sketchbook Prize, London Atelier of Representational Art
RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
Art & Architecture Editor, Five Books – 2015 to Present
Five Books’ virtual office spans London, Oxford, Edinburgh, Porto and New York. My remit is interviews and editorial decisions relating to art, design and architecture, as well as art direction on visual identity and promotional material. I’ve gathered interviews to date and other writing on my blog, Appel Art Journal. This forms the backbone of my self-styled art history ‘curriculum’, independent study which has brought me into contact with prominent gallerists, writers, collectors and academics. I have also written catalog essays and wall text for exhibitions hosted by Lyme Academy of Art and Vilnius Art Academy.
Atelier Artístico Aeminium - 2025 to Present
Founding faculty of new drawing and painting atelier in the university town of Coimbra, Portugal. Forthcoming workshop in early 2025 will focus on master copies
Studio Tuition - 2023 to Present
Weekly 1:1 classes focused on technical development and personal expression, with live in-studio and online variants.
‘Drawing Inspiration from Nature’ - 2024
Foraging for pigmented material in a landscape to create ink, then returning to the landscape to paint the panoramas from which materials originated. Workshop was conducted over three weekend events of 30, 12 and 8 participants, respectively.
Jury, Vilnius Art Academy Graduate Graphic Art Prize - 2023, 2024
Awarded to graduating student with portfolio of highest artistic merit.
Diploma for Displaced Persons - 2023
Created a short biographical film and fundraising call to action for a Centenary Grant in support of displaced artists, in collaboration with Atelier des Artistes en Exil in Paris
Lisbon Drawing Club - 2021, 2022, 2023
‘Masterclass’ workshops in Lisbon have included ‘The Monochrome Portrait’, ‘Portrait Drawing’, ‘Keeping a Sketchbook’
LX Atelier - 2022
Drawing workshop on ‘The Topography of the Human Face’
Centenary Exhibition - 2018
Over several years I worked to a hard deadline on a once-in-a-century project to mark the centenary of my father, a world-renowned graphic artist. Coordinated the input of curators, archivists, collectors, designers and public figures for the successful inauguration of four exhibits, three panel discussions and a retrospective monograph in 2018. Created and curated the Estate website
languagES
English (native), Lithuanian, French, Italian (fluent), Russian, Portuguese (business proficiency)
