A Pawn Is Never Just a Pawn
In Caroline De Souza's "Check Mate," a chess piece stands in for a decision, not a game. Look closer and the board reads as a relationship, a career, a life split into moves that cannot be taken back. That is the trick across De Souza's Chess Series, now showing at Carousel Fine Art's West Palm Beach gallery: a familiar object, rebuilt in layered acrylic, resin, and metal, until it stops being a game piece and starts being a stand-in for something the viewer recognizes from their own life. It is a strategy she has used before, in different materials, long before chess entered the picture.
From Milan Runways to a Studio in Athens
De Souza is Brazilian by birth. She trained in Milan as a fashion illustrator and designer, then built a career there, successful enough that she launched her own collection at Athens Fashion Week. That is the version of her career most people never hear about, a working fashion designer with runway credentials, not a hobbyist who dabbled before finding art.
Art had been there all along, though. She had been painting since her teenage years, and the pull toward it eventually won out over fashion entirely. She relocated to Greece and rebuilt her practice from the ground up, this time as a sculptor and painter rather than a designer.
Learning Under Angelos Panagiotou, and a Detour Through Central Saint Martins
De Souza's technical foundation came from studying under Angelos Panagiotou, a respected figure among Greek artists, and from further coursework through Central Saint Martins in the UK. That combination, hands-on mentorship from an established Greek painter, layered with formal instruction from one of Europe's more rigorous art schools, shows up in the work itself.
Her pieces are conceptually loose, chess as a metaphor for choice, a heart as a chakra, but technically exacting: layered acrylics and oils built up against resin, metal, and crystal until a single work reads as several materials in conversation rather than one surface with objects glued on top.
Love Has No Color: A Bronze for the Brazilian Embassy
In 2020, De Souza created her first sculpture collection, "Love Has No Color," and it did not stay in a gallery. A monumental bronze version was commissioned by the Brazilian Embassy in Athens and unveiled as a permanent public installation in the city, a rare jump from studio practice to civic commission for an artist still early in her sculptural career. It is the kind of credential that matters for what it confirms: an embassy vetting a public artwork on behalf of a country is a different bar than a gallery sale, and De Souza cleared it within the first year of working in bronze at all.
The Unbeaten Hearts
The Unbeaten series followed in 2021: gold-plated metal hearts, finished in metallic color, built around the touch-and-swing mechanism described above. The series found a market fast. It is now represented in galleries across nine countries, spanning Europe, the Netherlands, and beyond, making it De Souza's most widely distributed body of work to date. Where "Love Has No Color" made the case for her as a sculptor working in bronze and civic scale, Unbeaten made the case for her as a sculptor working in a smaller, collectible, repeatable format, the kind of piece a private collector can actually place on a wall.
The Chess Series, Carousel Fine Art's Newest Body of Work
De Souza's current series takes the chessboard as its subject, not as illustration but as metaphor. "Check Mate," "Life is a Game," and "Silent Warriors," all currently available through Carousel Fine Art, reimagine chess pieces as stand-ins for strategy, power, and the balance struck or lost in a relationship. A pawn is never just a pawn in these works. It is a stand-in for the smaller decisions that add up to a life, rendered in De Souza's now-familiar layered mix of acrylic, oil, resin, metal, and crystal.
The series marks a shift in subject from her earlier heart and love-themed work toward something more structural and strategic, though the underlying method, dense, layered, multi-material construction, stays consistent across both.
Where Her Work Lives Now
De Souza's work has been acquired by collectors across Europe, the United States, and South America, with pieces in private collections in more than nine countries. Carousel Fine Art currently represents De Souza through her Chess Series. Her earlier bodies of work, including the Unbeaten Hearts and Love Has No Color, are not part of Carousel's current inventory but can be accessed through our gallery. De Souza can be found in many international galleries, including Saatchi Art, Cobra Art in the Netherlands, Design by Jaler, and Loudos Auctions in Greece. She has also exhibited at venues including Kapopoulos Fine Arts in Mykonos, where she held a solo show in 2019.
FAQ
Who is Caroline De Souza? Caroline De Souza is a Brazilian-born contemporary sculptor and painter, based in Athens, Greece. Trained first in Milan as a fashion illustrator and designer, she shifted fully into art, studying under Greek artist Angelos Panagiotou and through coursework at Central Saint Martins. She is represented by Carousel Fine Art.
What is Caroline De Souza's art style? De Souza builds layered, multi-material works combining acrylic, oil, resin, metal, and crystal, often centered on a single symbol, a heart, a chess piece, transformed into a conceptual statement about power, connection, or emotion.
What is the Unbeaten series? Unbeaten is De Souza's 2021 series of gold-plated metal hearts, built with a mechanism that lets the sculpture swing when touched. She has tied the piece to the heart chakra and describes the motion as a way of clearing the energy of a room. The series is now represented in galleries across nine countries.
What is "Love Has No Color"? "Love Has No Color" is De Souza's first sculpture collection, created in 2020. A monumental bronze version was commissioned by the Brazilian Embassy and installed as a permanent public work in Athens.
What is the Chess Series? The Chess Series is De Souza's current body of work, including "Check Mate," "Life is a Game," and "Silent Warriors." The works use chess as a framework for power, strategy, and human connection, and are available now through Carousel Fine Art.
Where can I see or buy Caroline De Souza's work? Carousel Fine Art represents Caroline De Souza and currently carries her Chess Series. Her work has also shown at Kapopoulos Fine Arts in Mykonos and moves through galleries and platforms in multiple countries, including the Netherlands and Greece.
Still Moving
Move a pawn, and the board changes. De Souza has built that same idea in different materials for years, a heart that swings when touched, a bronze commissioned by an embassy, and now a chessboard. A fashion collection became a sculpture practice. A studio piece became a civic commission. A game became a way of talking about power and choice. The material changes. The instinct to turn one object into a statement about something larger does not.
To view available works by Caroline De Souza, including her current Chess Series, or to arrange a private viewing, get in touch with Carousel Fine Art directly.
