Maria Fragoudaki was born in Athens in 1983. In her work, she engages a variety of visual languages such as painting, sculpture, art installations, and performance, creating narratives that are brought to life using materials that include fabric, gypsum, and paint. Her work has been presented in numerous solo and group shows throughout Europe, the US and Japan. Many of her artworks have been acquired internationally by private and corporate collections.
Maria holds a Bachelor and a Master’s degree of Science in Chemistry from the University of London, specializing in the physical properties of materials, and a master’s degree in Management from the University of Bristol. Following her studies, she worked in London and finally, New York, where she lived until 2018. She has completed residencies at the School of Visual Arts in New York and has worked alongside Donald Sheridan, master printer of Andy Warhol, as well as with Andrew Ginzel, an American artist known for his large-scale public art pieces and installations.
Since 2023, she has been very active in art charity projects, by founding ArtActs4Kids and ArtActs4Women, two organizations that aim to provide help to kids and women, respectively, in need of support. In the same year, she took her first steps in the field of creative writing, by writing the lyrics of the song “Θα στο Φωνάζω Δυνατά” and the book “Πάμε να Πιάσουμε Ουρανό” that has been published by Metaixmio.
“My work explores the concept of Haptic Perception (Greek: haptós, haptikós /palpable, tangible) which relies on the forces experienced during touch and active exploration.
Through my work, I am exploring various materials that include fabric, gypsum, and paint and study their ability to produce a tactile experience. My Chemistry background help me interact with the materials in a different way. By understanding their properties and chemical composition, I manipulate and transform them, challenging our notion of reality.
My aim is to reveal Forms that are inherent to the objects, but hidden at first sight. The physical process of changing, exploring, expanding, and challenging the use of materials becomes an abstract process of exploring and understanding Ideas and materiality.”
