Virginia Frieyro

 ARTIST’S PROFILE

Virginia Frieyro holds a degree in Fine Arts from the Complutense University of Madrid and a degree in Interior Design from IADE School, also in Madrid — both institutions where she currently teaches. She has attended residencies and workshops led by Dis Berlin (Palacio de Albaicín, Noja) and Navarro Baldeweg (Fundación Botín).

She has presented solo exhibitions at Galería María Llanos (Cáceres), Artificial Gallery, Espacio F, Sala de Arte Joven, and Casa de Galicia (Madrid).

Her group exhibitions have taken her to spaces such as Fundación Botín (Santander), MARCO Museum (Vigo), Fundación MAPFRE, La Casa Encendida, Galería Luis Adelantado, DA2 (Salamanca), Círculo de Bellas Artes, Casa de la Moneda, Fundación Caja de Extremadura, WeCollect Gallery, and Galería A del Arte (Zaragoza). She has also participated in international and national fairs including ARTISSIMA (Turin), ARTE SANTANDER, FORO SUR, JUST MAD, ARTE LISBOA, ART SALAMANCA, and VALENCIA ART.

In 2014, she exhibited in Dubai after being selected as a finalist in the International Emerging Artist Award.

Virginia has been recognized in numerous competitions and awards: Gaceta Regional Awards (2000), UCM Young Visual Arts Prize (2004), Generaciones (2005), Focus Abengoa (2006), and Gregorio Prieto (2006 and 2009). She has also been nominated for the Autumn Salon of the Spanish Association of Painters and Sculptors (2010), the Jesús Bárcenas Painting Prize (2011), the 8th National Painting Competition of the Parliament of La Rioja (2013), the Obra Abierta prize of Fundación Caja de Extremadura, the Torres García–Ciutat de Mataró Painting Biennial (2017), and the Montblanc Drawing Prize (2019).

She won the prestigious Penagos Drawing Prize awarded by Fundación MAPFRE in 2004, and in 2007 received one of the El Brocense Visual Arts Awards from the Provincial Council of Cáceres. She earned an Honorable Mention at Figurativas 11 (Fundació de les Arts i els Artistes) and the First Prize at the Gregorio Prieto Drawing Competition in 2011. Two years later, she was included by Beers Contemporary in its renowned list of 100 Painters of Tomorrow.

Read about Virginia’s residency project in her own words… 

“My work explores the idea of the artist’s ongoing self-portrait. Through painting and drawing, I seek to record moments of my inner life, turning my artistic practice into a kind of emotional diary of my personal journey.

During my stay at the residency, my intention is to fully experience the place and portray that experience through a series of drawings and paintings that act as a visual diary — translating sensory impressions (smells, colors, tastes…) onto the canvas, using color and its psychological aspects as a central tool in my process.”