Born: 1978 Cape Town, South Africa.
Lives and works: Edinburgh, Scotland.

 

At 17, Freemantle was selected as one of five students from around the world to study at St Oswald’s Academy in London, where he completed an intensive, five-year apprenticeship in traditional drawing, painting, sculpture and geometry. These principles continue to inform his rigorous approach to his studio practice.

 

Founded on an intimate understanding of painting and art history, Freemantle’s work explores the relationship between his body, time and the earth, each of which serve as materials and as inspiration. Using a variety of media including fallen trees, mountain rocks, natural indigo and ochre in his artwork, he situates the body as an organic presence at one with nature, at the same time integrating the landscape physically in the human act of painting and sculpture.

 

Freemantle has been exhibiting internationally since 2007, with solo exhibitions in London, Cape Town, Amsterdam, Madrid, Barcelona, Johannesburg and Edinburgh, including a major commission by The Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg.

 

In addition to an expansive studio practice, Freemantle has been working as an educator, in 2002 setting up the painting department of The Art Academy in London and writing ‘Anatomy made simple for Artists’ published by Arcturus (UK) in 2004. He has also curated numerous exhibitions in the context of Edinburgh International Fashion Festival, which he co-founded in 2012, and as co-director of Hazard Gallery, which he co-founded and ran in Johannesburg from 2015 to 2019.

 

Having returned to Edinburgh in 2019, Freemantle has focused on full time studio practice. His work is represented in collections worldwide including Muzeum Sztuki, Łódź (Poland), The Demarco Foundation Archive (UK), Nirox Foundation (South Africa) and the private collection of HM King Charles III.

 

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SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
 

2026

EXPLODED VIEW - Edoardo Villa and 21st Century Sculpture

Group exhibition

Nirox Foundation and BlackBrick, Cape Town

​

2025

IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS

Solo exhibition
Escat Gallery, Barcelona

​

PAINTING - A CHANGED ENVIRONMENT

Group exhibition
Messums Gallery, London

​

A BANQUET FOR CHARLES

Solo exhibition
Hunted Projects, Edinburgh

​
2024
THE FALLEN TREE
Solo exhibition
Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg

2023
PORTALS
Solo exhibition
Experience 27, Madrid

2022
SPIRIT MATTER (I)
Solo exhibition 
Nirox Foundation, Cradle of Humankind (South Africa)

SPIRIT MATTER (II)
Solo exhibition
Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg

2021
TIME TRAVEL
Solo exhibition
SpaceBY The Fourth, Cape Town
 
UNKNOWN PLEASURES
Solo exhibition
Experience 27, Madrid 

2020
Breathing Space
Solo exhibition
LTD Ink Corporation, Edinburgh 

2018
THE OLDEST MOUNTAIN
Solo exhibition
Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg

2016
DER HEILIGE BERG II
Solo exhibition
Gallery MOMO, Johannesburg

2015
DER HEILIGE BERG II
Solo exhibition
Gallery MOMO, Cape Town
Africa Future Now
Group exhibition, Edinburgh International Fashion Festival
FIFTEEN MMXV
Hazard Gallery, Johannesburg
Load Shedding
Commune. 1 Gallery, Cape Town
Winter Sculpture Fair 2015
Nirox Sculpture Park

2014 
Nirox Foundation, Cradle of Humankind (Maropeng)
2-Month Residency
Scintilla
Commune.1 Gallery, Cape Town
Exact Imagination - 300 years of botanically inspired art in South Africa'
Standard Bank Gallery, Johannesburg
'Play' 
Nirox Sculpture Park, Cradle of Humankind, Maropeng
'Absolute Reflection'
Collaboration with Rodan Kane Hart.
Museum of African Design, Johannesburg
'This is Happening Now'
Gayfield Creative, Edinburgh International Fashion Festival

2013 
DER HEILIGE BERG
Solo show, Summerhall, Edinburgh

2012 
'Collective Dreaming'
Freemantle + Bolhuis, Summerhall, Edinburgh

2011
‘We Have Invented Nothing’
Solo Show, PUNT WG. Amsterdam
#GR5-RMX 
Annuale 2011, group show at Studio128, Edinburgh

2010
DIVINA PROPORTIONE
Solo Show, Old Ambulance Depot, Edinburgh

Selected others:
‘The Aspect Prize finalists exhibition’, The Paisley Institute, Paisley
‘RSA Annual Exhibition’, Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh
‘A Truth in Black & White at the Alliance Française’, Alliance Française, Cape Town
‘New Painting’, Joao Ferreira Gallery, Cape Town
‘A Truth in Black & White’, Solan Studios, Cape Town
‘A Truth in Black & White’, The Warehouse (Lyon & Turnbull, Edinburgh)
2007 ‘immigration|migration’
Solo show in Edinburgh of new work completed while resident at Xpositron studios, Amsterdam.
‘The Stillness Collection’, Solo show at Stillness Manor, Cape Town
FineArtCircle, Old Truman Brewery, London E1
Royal Society of Portrait Painters, Mall Galleries, London

CURATORIAL PROJECTS for Edinburgh International Fashion Festival
'AFRICA FUTURE NOW', 2015
'This Is Happening Now', 2014
'Syn/Aesthesia', 2012
'Pam Hogg, Far From The Madding Crowd', 2012
'Dis/Ambiguation', 2011