Stella Ampatzi is an awarded visual artist originally from Athens, Greece, and currently based in New York City. 

With a diverse background in the film industry, Stella’s filmography encompasses an extensive range of 39 credits in movies and TV shows: 

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1583509/

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Her expertise spans from assisting directors on movie sets to conceptualizing captivating visuals during pre-production, as well as crafting digital matte paintings in post-production. Stella combines photography and digital painting techniques to create immersive and imaginative environments, ranging from realistic to fantastical. 

 

In 2003, Stella relocated to London where she spent nine years working in Visual Effects, collaborating on notable Hollywood film productions. She contributed her talents to Framestore CFC, working on projects such as “Troy” starring Brad Pitt and “Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban”.  Additionally, she joined the esteemed Peerless Camera company, founded by director Terry Gilliam, working on films like ”The Brothers Grim” starring Matt Damon and Monica Bellucci, “The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus” starring Heath Ledger, Johnny Depp, and Jude Law, as well as “The Golden Compass” featuring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig, for which her VFX team won an Oscar for Best Visual Effects. Stella’s second Oscar win for best VFX came to her team at Weta Digital in New Zealand while working on Peter Jackson’s “King Kong.”

 

Throughout her career, Stella has worked on diverse film sets around the world. Her experiences include contributing to the production of “The Legend of Zorro” in Mexico with Antonio Banderas and Catherine Zeta-Jones, “Mission Impossible 3” in Rome alongside Tom Cruise, “Push” in Hong Kong with Chris Evans, “The Green Lantern” in New Orleans with Ryan Reynolds, and “Casino Royale” in Prague and the Bahamas with Daniel Craig.

 

In 2012, Stella moved to New York City, where she has worked in visual effects for renowned film studios on movies like “The Wolf of Wall Street” with Leonardo DiCaprio and “Ben is Back” with Julia Roberts. 

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She has also collaborated as a concept artist with director Darren Aronofsky on the film “Mother!” featuring Jennifer Lawrence and Javier Bardem. Stella’s contributions extend to streaming platforms like Disney, Netflix, HBO, and Apple Plus for various TV shows.

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Stella’s education includes studying 3D animation and Multimedia at Akto in Athens, Greece, in collaboration with Middlesex University of London. She also holds a Master’s degree in Photography and Visual Language from Middlesex University. Stella further expanded her skills by studying Printmaking and Photo etching at St. Martin’s College in London and Creative Direction at the School of Visual Arts in New York. She has written and directed a short film called “Tangerine” .

 

In addition to her involvement in the film industry, she showcases her artwork in exhibitions, which feature a fusion of traditional media, photography, non-human photography, AI-generated images, and digital art. Stella adeptly employs the tools of the visual effects industry in unconventional ways, creating art that serves a supportive role in storytelling.

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Notably, Stella's artwork Gaslight Mushroom was featured in Spiraling Upwards, an exhibition presented by The American Physical Society in partnership with The Leonardo Museum in Salt Lake City. This exhibition bridges the realms of art and science, using fluid motion to explore the physics of fluids and their profound impact on our understanding of the world. Spiraling Upwards was on display from early November 2024 until January 31, 2025, as part of the Traveling Gallery of Fluid Motion's ongoing exhibition series. This series follows the 2023 Chaosmosis: Assigning Rhythm to the Turbulent show at The National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C. This year’s presentation delves into Leonardo da Vinci’s studies on fluid dynamics and flight, alongside curated works from the Gallery of Fluid Motion’s archive at the American Physical Society’s Division of Fluid Dynamics (APS-DFD).

 

In the past shows, her artistic achievements have been showcased in various exhibitions, including a group exhibition at the Chelsea Football Club Fundraising event in Stamford Bridge, London in 2011. She also held a solo exhibition titled “I AM,” powered by Chashama, in Chelsea, NYC in 2015, and another solo exhibition sponsored by The Public Factory at the Soho Grand Hotel in Soho, NYC in 2016. Stella’s work was featured in a group exhibition at “Romantso” in Athens, Greece, in 2022, as well as in the group exhibition “Imagine your city” organized by the Culture Office of the Municipality of Athens, supported by the United Nations Regional Information Center and the Eurocities network, also in Athens.

 

Stella is blending traditional media, photography, non-human photography, AI-generated images and digital art. Her art leverages visual effects tools in unconventional ways, offering a supportive role in storytelling. Her artwork delves into the exploration of human-AI

relations through innovative technologies, offering fresh perspectives on the evolving nature of humanity in the digital age.