Born in Hawkes Bay in 1979, Freeman began painting from an early age.
During his schooling Freeman consistently won prizes in the fields of Art and public speaking.
In 1997, Freeman spent one year as an exchange student in Germany .He now speaks fluent German. During his stay Freeman was also exposed to the great art collections of Europe. He has returned to Germany many times and has twice been invited to paint and exhibit in the “REAL international symposium for Figurative Art” Germany(2007,2009).
Freeman has also traveled extensively throughout Europe, the USA, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific.
In 1998 Freeman spent one Year at Elam School of fine arts in Auckland.
In 2000 he won a scholarship to complete his Honors diploma in fine arts at TLC School of art and creativity Wellington.
In 2006 Freeman won first prize in the national ADAM Portrait Awards; he now has a total of 7 pieces in the collection of the New Zealand Portrait Gallery as well as works in the collection of the Royal Society of New Zealand.
Following this Award, at the invitation of James Holloway (Director of the Scottish National Portrait Gallery), Freeman spent six months painting portraits and living 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 Freeman embarked upon a second international residency this time at the Staffelter Hoff winery in the Mosel Valley in Germany.
In November 2009 Freeman spent five weeks in Key West, Florida, where he was Artist in Residence and exhibited at” The Studios of Key West”
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 “New Zealand Favorite Artists” By Dennis Robinson and “Art News New Zealand “ (Autumn 2008)Magazine, as well as the American “Art News”(Jan 2010) Magazine .
Freeman was recently voted “Wellington’s Top Artist” in the Wellington Capital Times Best of 2010 poll.
Freeman has had many solo shows in New Zealand, as well as many group shows, including the Norseware art awards, ADAM Portrait Awards and the Hawkes Bay Invitational.
He has also exhibited in Germany, Scotland and The USA.
