Carole Freeman (artist)

Carole Freeman is a Canadian American contemporary figurative artist known for portraits and paintings of cultural, social, political, and personal significance. Freeman works in drawing, painting, and photography.

Early life and education
Freeman was born in St. Boniface, Manitoba in 1954, as the youngest of two brothers and three step-sisters.

Between 1973 and 1977, Freeman studied at the University of Manitoba School of Visual Arts in Winnipeg, Manitoba, her main mentor being Canadian painter Ivan Eyre. She graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree Honors. She continued postgraduate studies at the School of Painting, Royal College of Art in London, England, earning a Master of Arts Degree in 1980, which expanded her artistic practice while rubbing shoulders with art world figures such as Roberto Matta, James Rosenquist, Ernst Gombrich, John Golding, and tutors Peter de Francia, and Ken Kiff.

Freeman later obtained a second Bachelor Degree in Education from the University of Toronto in 1991.

Work
Freeman's artwork, mainly figurative, depicts varied subjects that include celebrities, artists, historical or newsworthy figures, family, friends, and strangers. Freeman's imagery and technique are influenced by the work of many artists such as Diego Velazquez, Édouard Manet, and John Singer Sargent, as well as contemporary artists Alice Neel, Peter Doig, Marlene Dumas, and Henry Taylor.

In 2011, Freeman adapted this genre to the digital age through the production and exhibition of 200 paintings based on digital images from Facebook profile pictures, utilizing the social media giant as a source as well as disseminator of jpegs of completed paintings to the public and individual subjects.

Unsung, Freeman's first New York solo exhibition in 2018, small portraits of 24 unsung American heroes, was reviewed in New York Magazine as "beautiful meditations in paint on great women and men...rendered lovingly and intensely; the works impart that the chariot to greatness comes in many forms and that every artist is also one of these mighty figures, laboring with passion in private shadows."

Recognition
Freeman received awards during her studies which include the Royal College of Art Travel Award, and the University of Toronto Visual Art Award. She was granted two Canada Council Project Cost Grants and a four month residency at La Cite Internationale des Arts in Paris, France. Following her 2011 Toronto solo exhibition, Friend Me: Portraits of Facebook, Freeman was invited to the Canadian Arts Summit at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity as a guest panelist on the topic, Making Art in the Age of New Media, moderated by Janet Carding, Director of the Royal Ontario Museum. In 2018 she was invited by the Department of Visual Art, Brown University, Providence, RI, to conduct individual student critiques and deliver a talk about her work, specifically her New York solo exhibition Unsung. Freeman has produced commission work for Jerry Saltz, senior art critic for New York Magazine and Roberta Smith, co-chief art critic for The New York Times, Lord and Lady Glentorran, the Barron Collection, and Morgan Spurlock, filmmaker.

Exhibitions
Freeman has staged solo exhibitions at galleries in New York, Toronto, and Winnipeg. Her notable shows include Unsung, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York (2018), Something About Winnipeg, Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg, Canada (2016), Selections 2012-2016,  Walnut Contemporary, Toronto, Canada (2016), and Portraits From Facebook, Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, Canada (2011-2012).

She has also participated in international group exhibitions and art fairs, including Faces and Figures, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York (2024), Roar, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York (2023), Young Masters, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK (2017), Classical Values: Modern and Contemporary Drawing, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA (2014), Women's Art Now, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA (2012), Satellite Art Show, Miami, FL (2018), Boston International Fine Art Show, Brenda Taylor Gallery, Boston, MA (2018), Art New York, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, New York (2017), Art Toronto, Gurevich Fine Art, Toronto, Canada (2014, 2015).

Solo exhibitions

 * Hang Mike Pence (window installation), Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY, 2022
 * Unsung, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY, 2018
 * Something About Winnipeg, Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg, Canada, 2016
 * Selections 2012-2016, Walnut Contemporary, Toronto, Canada, 2016
 * Portraits From Facebook, Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2011
 * Doing the Docs, Toronto International Film Festival Headquarters Hyatt Regency Hotel, Toronto, Canada, 2011
 * If the Paparazzi Could Paint, International Film Festival Official Headquarters Hyatt Regency Hotel, Toronto, Canada, 2010
 * If the Paparazzi Could Paint, Rebecca Gallery, Toronto, Canada, 2010

Group Exhibitions and Art Fairs

 * Heads, Shoulders, Knees, & Toes: 20th & 21st Century Faces & Figures, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY, 2024
 * Roar (Jennifer Bartlett,Louis Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Helen Frankenthaler, Carole Freeman, Deborah Kass, Barbara Kruger, Elizabeth Murray, Yoko Ono, Kiki Smith, Lisa Yuskavage), Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY, 2023
 * Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY, 2022
 * 12 Chairs, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY, 2019
 * Satellite Art Show, Curatious, Miami, FL, 2018
 * Boston International Fine Art Show, Brenda Taylor Gallery, Boston, MA, 2018
 * Art New York, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, New York, NY, 2018
 * Young Masters, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK, 2017
 * Art +, Van Der Plas Gallery, New York, NY, 2017
 * ArtToronto, Gurevich Fine Art, Toronto, Canada, 2015
 * ArtToronto, Gurevich Fine Art, Toronto, Canada, 2014
 * Classical Values: Modern and Contemporary Drawing, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2014
 * Women's Art, Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg, Canada, 2014
 * Women's Art Now, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, CA, 2013
 * Art Takes Times Square, New York, NY, 2012

Notable coverage and reviews
Freeman has received recognition through various international newspapers, magazines, and online publications. Most notable are: New York Magazine by Jerry Saltz, The Guardian, Wall Street International, Artnet News, Winnipeg Free Press, The Globe and Mail, The National Post, and Artoronto, as well as two major features in Arabella Magazine by Gary Michael Dault and MIA Magazine.


 * University of Manitoba Today

Inspiring Minds: Perspective. Sean Moore, Fall, 2019


 * The Brown Daily Herald

Visiting artist aims to show 'ray of hope'; in paintings. Jango McCormick, November 12, 2018


 * New York Magazine

Carole Freeman: Unsung, The difference-makers. Jerry Saltz, April 15, 2018


 * The Guardian

Unsung heroes: portraits of figures who deserve artistic recognition. Nadja Sayej, March 16, 2018


 * Wall Street International

22 Apr 2018 at Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York. March 28, 2018


 * Artnet News

Editor's Picks: 14 Things to See in New York This Week. Sarah Cascone, March 12, 2018

Editor's Picks: 14 Things to See in New York This Week. Sarah Cascone, April 16, 2018


 * Winnipeg Free Press

Painting the Faces of Winnipeg. Alison Gilmore, October 31, 2016


 * Artoronto

Carole Freeman's Selections 2012-2016 at Walnut Contemporary. David Saric, August, 2016


 * Arabella

Surprise Appearances.Gary Michael Dault, Summer Issue, 2016


 * Globe and Mail

Carole Freeman Finds Her Muse on Facebook, James Adams, December 2, 2011

Carole Freeman's Facebook Friends. December 2, 2011


 * Berkshire Fine Arts

Friend Me: Portraits and Projects, Carole Freeman. January 22, 2012


 * Canadian Jewish News

Getting Friended With a Paintbrush. December 15, 2011

Commissions
Notable commissions include The Glass House in New Canaan, CT, three paintings for Jerry Saltz (Senior Art Critic, New York Magazine) and Roberta Smith (Senior Art Critic, NY Times), New York, NY, art dealer Jim Kempner, New York, NY, Guy Barron, Barron Collection, Bloomfield Hills, MI, the final portrait of Los Angeles art dealer Leslie Sacks for African Art from the Leslie Sacks Collection published by Skira, documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, New York, NY, Lord and Lady Glentorran, Dublin, Ireland, Portraits of Norman Jewison and David Mirvish for Harold Green Theatre Company, Toronto, Canada, Stefan Olsson, billionaire owner Stena Line, London, UK, and many other international private collectors.

Public collections

 * University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
 * Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, Winnipeg, Canada
 * Art Bank, Ottawa, Canada
 * Continental Oil Company, London, UK
 * Royal College of Art, London, UK
 * York University, Toronto, Canada

Private collections

 * Guy and Nora Barron Collection
 * Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith Collection
 * Morgan Spurlock
 * Leslie Sacks Estate
 * Stefan Olsson (Stena Sphere)
 * Brian Levitt (Chair, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts / TD Bank Financial Group)
 * Lord and Lady Glentoran Collection