Damaris Athene
Born: 1992
Hometown: Bristol
Based in: Cambridge
Damaris Athene graduated from Camberwell College of Arts in 2015 with a BA(Hons) in Painting. She was shortlisted for the Hans Brinker Painting Prize in Amsterdam in 2014, for the Clyde & Co. Art Award in 2015 and in 2018 was selected for the BEEP Painting Prize. Since 2018 Athene has held a studio at Wysing Arts Centre. In 2019 Athene held a solo show, ‘Cheer Up Love’, at Cambridge University. In 2021 Athene has held two solo shows, ‘I Wish I Was As Hot As My Memoji’ at TOD Gallery and ‘If Only I Could Be 2D’ at Compact Contemporary. Athene founded the blog Private View where she interviews femxle artists.
Damaris Athene's interdisciplinary practice examines how digital technology is altering the world around us and affecting how we interact with and perceive our own bodies. Athene interrogates the flattening and perfecting of the digital world through an exploration of corporeality and abstraction of the human form in painting, sculpture, performance, photography, digital collage, printmaking, and the boundaries between these mediums. Athene has started to bring these art forms together to create multi-facetted self-reflexive installations. Athene takes particular interest in female bodies, and how the myriad of appearance altering apps on offer enable us to digitise our dysmorphia when we modify what we dislike to create ‘perfect selves’.
3 works for sale
Damaris Athene In The Studio
More About Damaris Athene
What inspires you?
The effects that digital technology has on our perception of and interaction with our bodies, my lived experience in a female body, anatomy, biology, ‘The Powers of Horror’ by Julia Kristeva, Transhumanism, digital dysmorphia
Describe your creative process.
My creative process varies as I work across different mediums which feed into one another. For my padded paintings, I started with collage which developed into 3D clay models. I drew these and then made these shapes the basis for my padded sculptural forms which I covered in neoprene and painted with an airbrush.
What are 3 words that best describe your work?
Bodily, Pink, Digital
Who are some artists that have influenced your work?
Rachel de Joode, Inês Norton, Anna Mays, Martina Menegon, Nettle Grellier, Vickie Vainionpää
What is the most important tool when creating your work?
Currently my most important tool is my airbrush.
What is the best piece of advice you have been given?
To keep on going and to keep applying to things even when you're getting rejections.
Where do you go for inspiration?
I use Instagram a lot to find new artists, as well as going to lots of exhibitions in person.
Credentials
Exhibitions
Well, Well, Well at Leyden Gallery, London
2021
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
2021
DECONTEXTS with Loosen Art, Rome
2021
Open Fragment (Online) with Pragmata Collective
2021
EX06 (Online) with FLOORR Magazine, London
2021
Traces (Online) with AIR Gallery, Altrincham
2021
The Sky Has No Surface (Online)
2021
If Only I Could Be 2D (solo show) at Compact Contemporary, Leeds
2021
CUTOUT (Online) with Subsolo, Lisbon
2021
Emerging Artists 2021 Exhibition (Online) with dōdōmu gallery
2021
REBIRTH (Online), The Holy Art, London
2021
I Wish I Was As Hot As My Memoji (solo show) at The Open Dresser Gallery, Sevenoaks
2021
Abstract at Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield
2021
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair Online Edition, London
2020
The Cambridge Wide Open at Motion Sickness, Cambridge
2020
Trauma (solo show) at Stantonbury Gallery, Milton Keynes
2019
Cheer Up Love (solo show) at Peterhouse, Cambridge
2019
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
2019
John Hughes Arts Festival at Jesus College, Cambridge
2019
Selected Open at Michaelhouse, Cambridge
2019
Queen's Arts Festival at Queen's College, Cambridge
2018
Present, Perfect, Continuous at Zverev Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow
2018
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
2018
Beep Painting Prize 2018 at Swansea College of Art, Swansea
2018
PrintFest Sevenoaks at Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery, Kent
2018
Creative Reactions at St Barnabas Church, Cambridge
2018
Rejuvenation at UNA Gallery, Norwich
2018
AWOMENfest at DIY Space for London, London
2018
John Hughes Arts Festival at Jesus College, Cambridge
2018
Winter Blues at The Cass Art Space, London
2018
I Shall Walk Softly There (solo show) at Wigan S.T.E.A.M., Wigan
2018
Open Exhibition at Hot Numbers, Cambridge
2017
Platform for Emerging Arts 15 at Leyden Gallery, London
2017
White Clouds with Ink at The Blue Moon, Cambridge
2017
Winter 2017 at St Barnabas Press, Cambridge
2017
Clyde and Co Award Shortlist at Clyde and Co, London
2016
Epidermal Dress: An Exhibition at Safehouse1, London
2016
Undergraduate Degree Show at Camberwell College of Arts, London
2015
Anatomy 2015 at The Old Operating Theatre Museum, London
2015
7th Site Presents: Jar at Ongean, London
2014
Hans Brinker Painting Prize 2014 at Hans Brinker Hotel, Amsterdam
2014
Open 2014 at Peckham Platform, London
2014
Verge at Parkhall Business Centre, London
2014
End at Camberwell College of Arts, London
2012
Awards
La Vienisima Feminist Photography Prize (Shortlist), Austria
2021
Beep Painting Prize (Shortlist), Swansea, UK
2018
Aesthetica Prize (Round Two), York, UK
2018
Clyde and Co Award (Shortlist), London, UK
2015
Hans Brinker Painting Prize (Shortist), Amsterdam, Holland
2014
Exhibitions
Well, Well, Well at Leyden Gallery, London
2021
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
2021
DECONTEXTS with Loosen Art, Rome
2021
Open Fragment (Online) with Pragmata Collective
2021
EX06 (Online) with FLOORR Magazine, London
2021
Traces (Online) with AIR Gallery, Altrincham
2021
The Sky Has No Surface (Online)
2021
If Only I Could Be 2D (solo show) at Compact Contemporary, Leeds
2021
CUTOUT (Online) with Subsolo, Lisbon
2021
Emerging Artists 2021 Exhibition (Online) with dōdōmu gallery
2021
REBIRTH (Online), The Holy Art, London
2021
I Wish I Was As Hot As My Memoji (solo show) at The Open Dresser Gallery, Sevenoaks
2021
Abstract at Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield
2021
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair Online Edition, London
2020
The Cambridge Wide Open at Motion Sickness, Cambridge
2020
Trauma (solo show) at Stantonbury Gallery, Milton Keynes
2019
Cheer Up Love (solo show) at Peterhouse, Cambridge
2019
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
2019
John Hughes Arts Festival at Jesus College, Cambridge
2019
Selected Open at Michaelhouse, Cambridge
2019
Queen's Arts Festival at Queen's College, Cambridge
2018
Present, Perfect, Continuous at Zverev Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow
2018
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
2018
Beep Painting Prize 2018 at Swansea College of Art, Swansea
2018
PrintFest Sevenoaks at Sevenoaks Kaleidoscope Gallery, Kent
2018
Creative Reactions at St Barnabas Church, Cambridge
2018
Rejuvenation at UNA Gallery, Norwich
2018
AWOMENfest at DIY Space for London, London
2018
John Hughes Arts Festival at Jesus College, Cambridge
2018
Winter Blues at The Cass Art Space, London
2018
I Shall Walk Softly There (solo show) at Wigan S.T.E.A.M., Wigan
2018
Open Exhibition at Hot Numbers, Cambridge
2017
Platform for Emerging Arts 15 at Leyden Gallery, London
2017
White Clouds with Ink at The Blue Moon, Cambridge
2017
Winter 2017 at St Barnabas Press, Cambridge
2017
Clyde and Co Award Shortlist at Clyde and Co, London
2016
Epidermal Dress: An Exhibition at Safehouse1, London
2016
Undergraduate Degree Show at Camberwell College of Arts, London
2015
Anatomy 2015 at The Old Operating Theatre Museum, London
2015
7th Site Presents: Jar at Ongean, London
2014
Hans Brinker Painting Prize 2014 at Hans Brinker Hotel, Amsterdam
2014
Open 2014 at Peckham Platform, London
2014
Verge at Parkhall Business Centre, London
2014
End at Camberwell College of Arts, London
2012
Awards
La Vienisima Feminist Photography Prize (Shortlist), Austria
2021
Beep Painting Prize (Shortlist), Swansea, UK
2018
Aesthetica Prize (Round Two), York, UK
2018
Clyde and Co Award (Shortlist), London, UK
2015
Hans Brinker Painting Prize (Shortist), Amsterdam, Holland
2014