Carole Freeman is an American-Canadian contemporary figurative artist, a painter of people, whose expressive realist portraits and narrative pictures explore themes of identity, emotion, and connection with psychological depth, empathy, and wry humour. Freeman captures subject matter from observed life and world events, sourcing photographs and images from the media, the public sphere, and her own personal photos. Also engaging in still life and landscape traditions, Freeman’s style has been praised by New York Magazine as “labouring with passion.”
Born in 1954 in St. Boniface, Manitoba, Canada, Freeman studied at the Royal College of Art, London, UK and has participated in solo and group exhibitions internationally. Notable solo exhibitions include Unsung at Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York; Portraits of Facebook at Edward Day Gallery, Toronto; and Something About Winnipeg at Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg. Her institutional debut is scheduled for Fall 2027, featuring a body of work from her Canadian Forces Artist Program (CFAP) deployment to Ottawa, documenting King Charles III’s 2025 historic visit amid U.S. challenges to Canadian sovereignty.
Featured in New York Magazine, The Guardian, Artnet News, and The Globe and Mail, Freeman’s work has appeared in group exhibitions at Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK, and Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, alongside artists like David Hockney, Elizabeth Peyton, and Frank Auerbach. Paintings are held in corporate, university, and private collections in Canada, USA, England, Italy, Ireland, and Australia including commissions in the collections of art critics Jerry Saltz and Roberta Smith, filmmaker Morgan Spurlock, Guy and Nora Barron, and Lord and Lady Glentoran.
Freeman lives in Toronto with extended work excursions to New York.
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SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 Unsung, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY.
2016 Something About Winnipeg, Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg, Canada.
Selections 2012-2016, Walnut Contemporary, Toronto, Canada.
2011 Portraits From Facebook, Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
Doing the Docs, Toronto International Film Festival Headquarters Hyatt Hotel, Toronto,
Canada.
2010 If the Paparazzi Could Paint, Toronto International Film Festival Official Headquarters
Hyatt Regency Hotel, Toronto, Canada.
If the Paparazzi Could Paint, Rebecca Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
GROUP EXHIBITIONS ART FAIRS
2025 Satellite Art Fair, Brenda Taylor Gallery, Miami, Fl.
2024 Faces and Figures, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY.
2023 Roar (Jennifer Bartlett, Louis Bourgeois, Cecily Brown, Helen Frankenthaler, Carole
Freeman, Barbara Kruger, Elizabeth Murray, Yoko Ono, Kiki Smith, Lisa Yuskavage,
Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY.
2022 Twenty-Fifth Anniversary Exhibition, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY.
2019 Chairs, Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York, NY.
2018 Satellite Art Show, Curatious, Miami, FL. Boston International Fine Art Show, Brenda
Taylor Gallery, Boston, MA.
Art New York, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, New York, NY.
2017 Young Masters, Cynthia Corbett Gallery, London, UK. Art +, Van Der Plas Gallery, New
York, NY.
2015 ArtToronto, Gurevich Fine Art, Toronto, Canada.
2014 ArtToronto, Gurevich Fine Art, Toronto, Canada.
Classical Values: Modern and Contemporary Drawing, Leslie Sacks Fine Art,
LosAngeles, California.
Women's Art, Gurevich Fine Art, Winnipeg, Canada.
2013 Women’s Art Now, Leslie Sacks Fine Art, Los Angeles, California.
2012 Art Takes Times Square, New York, New York.
1999 Faculty Exhibition, Central Commerce Collegiate, Toronto, Canada.
1985 Fourth Faculty of Fine Arts Biennale, Concordia Art Gallery, Concordia University,
Montreal, Canada.
1983 Group Exhibit and Auction for AIDS Research, Galerie John Schweitzer, Montreal,
Canada.
1980 Royal College of Art Graduate Exhibition, Gulbenkin Hall, London, UK.
1979 British Petroleum Invitational, London, UK.
1977 Janet Ian Cameron Gallery, Winnipeg, Canada.
Gallery III, Winnipeg, Canada.
COMMISSIONS
2025 Imjin River Hockey Classic, His Majesty King Charles III as Represented by the Royal
22nd Regiment, Citadelle de Quebec, Quebec, Canada.
2024 Theo and Lily, Antoine Drye and Jacki Moline, New York, NY.
2022 Sondra and Jim, Sondra Kitchen and Jim Kempner, New York, NY.
2021 Giacometti, Warhol, Von Rydingsvard, Stella, Schiele, The Baron Family Collection,
Michigan California New York.
2018 Portrait Commission, The Glass House, New Canaan, CT.
2016-18 Bootlegs: Alice Neel Portrait, Symbols (Doll and Apple) by Alice Neel, The Weeping
Woman by Picasso, Collection Jerry Saltz (Senior Art Critic, New York Magazine) and
Roberta Smith (Former Senior Art Critic, NY Times), New York, NY.
2014 Twins (Five Paintings), Private Collection, Toronto, Canada.
2012 Portrait of Leslie Sacks, Published in African Art from the Leslie Sacks Collection, Skira.
2010-11 Man Friday (Nine Drawings), Commissioned by Blue Leaf Gallery for Lord and Lady
Glentoran, Dublin, Ireland.
Portraits of Norman Jewison, David Mirvish, and Ucal Powell, Harold Green Theatre
Company, Toronto, Canada.
Four Paintings of Bert, Private Collection, Toronto, Canada.
Portrait of Jeremy Chilnick, Commissioned by Morgan Spurlock, New York, NY.
TALKS
2018 Brown University, Visiting Artist Lecture, Providence, RI, November 7.
2012 Canadian Arts Summit, Guest Panellist, Making Art in the Age of New Media, Moderated
by Janet Carding, Director, Royal Ontario Museum, Banff Centre, Canada.
Portrait Painting Party, Edward Day Gallery, Toronto, Canada.
GRANTS AWARDS RESIDENCIES WORKSHOPS
2025 King Charles III Royal Tour May 26-27, Canadian Forces Artist Program(CFAP), Ottawa,
Canada.
2024 Summer Career Workshop, Studio Enrique Martinez Celaya, Los Angeles, CA.
1990 University of Toronto, Visual Art Award, Faculty of Education, Toronto, Canada.
1982 Canada Council, Project Cost Grant, Montreal, Canada.
1980 Cite Internationale des Arts, Four Month Residency, Paris, France.
1979 Royal College of Art, Travel Award, Italy.
1978 Canada Council, Project Cost Grant, London, England.
COLLECTIONS
La Citadelle de Québec, Quebec City, Canada. Art Bank, Ottawa, Canada. Continental Oil Company, London, UK. Royal College of Art, London, UK. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. York University, Toronto, Canada. Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, Winnipeg, Canada.
Private Collections: UK, Canada, Italy, Ireland, Australia, USA including 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), and Lord and Lady Glentoran Collection.
PRESS
MIA Magazine, Carole Freeman: The Painter of Life, Lydiah Grace, Volume 7 August 2021.
University of Manitoba Today, Inspiring Minds: Perspective, Sean Moore, Fall 2019.
The Brown University Daily Herald, Visiting artist aims to show 'ray of hope' in paintings, Jango McCormick, November 12, 2018.
New York Magazine, To Do: April 18–May 2, 2018, #7, Jerry Saltz, April 15, 2018 & May 2, 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, Editors' Picks: 14 Things to See in New York This Week, Sarah Cascone, March 12, 2018.
Winnipeg Free Press, Painting the Faces of Winnipeg, Alison Gilmore, October 31, 2016.
Canadian Art, Must-Sees This Week: November 3 to 9, 2016, November 3, 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.
The National Post, Portraits from Pokes, December 1, 2011. Celebrity Apprentice, September 9, 2010.
Berkshire Fine Arts, Friend Me: Portraits and Projects, Carole Freeman, January 22, 2012.
Akimbo Art and Tech, Carole Freeman Unplugged, James Fowler, April 10, 2012.
Otino Corsano Blog, Global Paint Party, January 5, 2012.
ArtStars, Carole Freeman, Nadja Sayej, December 2, 2011.
The Star Blog, Pretty As a Picture, September 15, 2011.
CBC Radio, Friend Me at The Edward Day Gallery, Here and Now, December 1, 2011.
EDUCATION
1980. Master of Arts, Royal College of Art, School of Painting, London, England.
1977. Bachelor of Fine Arts Honours (Dean's Honours List), University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada.
SELECTED BACK STORIES
2015 THE GREEN COUCH
In an art school studio space, a green couch unexpectedly served as the stage for intriguing tableaux and mise-en-scènes of teenage behavior. The poses and gestures of contemporary youth, set against historical artworks, create both intentional and unintentional meanings.
2013 - 2014 DEAR ART WORLD
Salutation; term of endearment; price (monetary, psychological); exclamation: pictures from the contemporary art world in seven parts.
2008 - present DEAD MOTHERS
"Unable are the loved to die, for love is immortality." - Emily Dickinson
For seven months, Freeman devoted herself to ensuring her mother’s final days were as comfortable as possible. The anguish of those moments drove her to capture haunting memories of her last hours. Yet, she felt this was not how Charlotte would wish to be remembered. Instead, Dead Mothers, an ongoing body of work, celebrates the vibrant, full lives of mothers loved and missed. Through public contributions of photographs and stories, this ongoing project respectfully portrays and celebrates mothers’ vitality and enduring impact.
The selected images depict Freeman’s mother at different stages in life, from childhood to motherhood to death, along with Freeman’s father and step-father.
COMMISSIONS
Leslie Sacks, 2012, acrylic on mylar, 10 x 8 inches
Correspondence from Leslie Sacks who died just over a year later.
13 June, 2012 4:58 PM
Dear Carole,
Fantastic visual energy – makes me look young, I suppose not a terrible thing.
Look forward to using it.
Marvellous addition to the book. Many thanks for your kindness.
Sincerely,
Leslie