Zoe Guglielmi was born in Zagreb, Croatia on 10 March 1985.
As a child, in 1991, she moved with her family to the Austrian capital, Vienna, a place full of museums, galleries, imperial palaces and residences. Cultural tradition remains very strong in Vienna, attracting large number of tourists from all over the world.
These surroundings hardly influenced Zoe's decision to become a painter - the only thing she wanted to be when she grows up (while she was a very young child) was actually an animator at Disney studios. Direction changed only slightly over the years, it was painting or drawing and nothing else.
Vienna might be a beautiful city, but Zoe is far more attracted by Athens, Greece (where she spent a semester as an exchange student) or possibly another noisy, smelly, passionate Mediterranean city.
In January 2008 she received her master of arts degree from the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien), an ancient (founded in 1692) institution, now with university status accepting just a handful of new students each year in it's various institutes (usually 4 - 6 painters).
Just as a side note, Adolf Hitler was twice refused admission to the Academy - his initial life ambition was to become a painter. He later blamed the Jewish members of the admission board for it. It's hard to tell what the history would have been like were he admitted...
Back to Zoe - she has a wide range of interests, from philosophy to quantum physics, including literature, film and of course alternative rock music. I would say that her favourite philosopher is Søren Kierkegaard, favourite author Haruki Murakami, her favourite films come from various European and Asian countries (South Korea, Thailand etc.), as well as American independent productions.
She often attends days long open air rock concerts, but recently started also liking Italian baroque composers like Albinoni and other classics. Her knowledge and interest in films and cinematography in general is fabulous.
Zoe can be found at a party or in some club nearly every evening, has a lot of friends, travels as much as her limited budget allows, is a decent skier - and I just don't understand where she finds the time for all that.
One thing is certain - Zoe is often happy, Zoe is often sad - but I don't think Zoe is ever bored.
Her paintings are probably the only way to really get to know her.
Zoe Guglielmi, Julia Hofstetter, Iris Nemecek, Sakae Ozawa and Elisabeth Wedenig, students and former students of the Vienna Academy, class of professor Hubert Schmalix, later Amelie Von Wulfen are founding members of the Zimmer, Küche, Kabinett (Room, Kitchen, Cabinet) art project |
