Born 1979 in Hawke’s Bay, painter Freeman White, began painting from an early age. In 1997, Freeman spent a year as an exchange student in Germany and during his stay was exposed to the great art collections of Europe. Returning to Germany a number of times White has twice been invited to paint and exhibit in the “REAL international symposium for Figurative Art” Germany (2007, 2009). In 2006 Freeman was awarded first prize in the ADAM National Portrait Awards.
This was a pivotal moment in White’s career, leading to a number of opportunities for the artist. The first of which: an invitation by James Holloway (Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery) to spend eight months painting portraits in Edinburgh. During this time Freeman completed a number of portraits, including works of James Holloway (Dir Scottish national portrait Gallery), Tilda Swinton (Academy award winning Scottish Actress), Ben Tindall (Royal Architect) and Allan Trail (Lord mayor of London 1982-83). Shortly after this, White embarked upon a second international residency, this time at the Staffelter Hoff winery in the Mosel Valley in Germany.
Upon his return from Europe the artist completed his first solo show of landscape paintings which met with great critical acclaim, at the Black Barn gallery in Havelock north. In 2009 White spent five weeks in Key West Florida, where he was Artist in Residence and exhibited at “The Studios of Key West. Over the years, Freeman has enjoyed many successful solo shows for his distinctive landscape paintings and is regarded as one of New Zealand’s top (living) landscape artists, known particularly for his paintings of the Hawke’s Bay region.
Freeman’s work has appeared in a number of notable publications including “New Zealand Portraits “ by Richard Wolf , “New Zealand A Painted Country” By Dennis Robinson , “It’s all about the Image” by Dick Frizzell ,“New Zealand’s Favorite Artists” By Dennis Robinson and “Art News New Zealand “ (Autumn 2009) Magazine, as well as the American “Art News”(January 2010) Magazine . As well as a successful career in the fine arts Freeman has worked as a professional illustrator and been involved in several film projects – most recently painting 5 portraits for the 2014 movie “What We Do in the Shadows.” He also worked on the Hobbit as a Scenic Artist. Freeman’s work features in a number of public collections including The New Zealand Portrait Gallery, The Wellington Museum, The Royal Society of New Zealand,The Kelliher trust and private and corporate collections both here and abroad. The artist now lives and works in Napier NZ.