February 12–March 12, 2022
Steve Turner is pleased to present Las Soledades, a solo exhibition by London-based Natalia Gonzalez Martin that features recent paintings which depict women in close-up detail. Of the seventeen works on view, there is but one that depicts her female subject from head to toe. The rest focus on various parts of the body–a hand, a foot, a pair of hands, legs, a torso or a face. Some have droplets of water on their skin; some hold fruit that drips juice, and all are draped in cloth or their own long hair. The subjects are demure, yet seductive and appealing. They have an ageless quality, a cross between a 1940s pinup model and an Eve from a Lucas Cranach painting. As Martin paints with luscious oils on wood panels, she depicts skin tones of creamy white with accents of pink and red with just the right satin finish. This makes her figures elegant, smooth and refined. Her compositions are inspired by Christian narratives as well as “Desert Mothers,” women who lived ascetic, solitary and spiritual lives in the fourth and fifth centuries in the region of the holy land. According to Martin, “I wanted to present an updated image of the Desert Mother, to look at their choice of having an unconventional life as wanderers who lived outdoors, and in so doing, to address contemporary isolation.”
Natalia Gonzalez Martin (born 1995, Montejo de la Sierra, Spain) earned a BA in Painting at City & Guilds of London Art School (2017). Her work has been featured in a solo and two-person exhibitions at Galerie Sebastien Bertrand, Geneva (2021) and Quench Gallery, Margate (2021) as well as in group exhibitions at Lawrie Shabibi, Dubai (2021); Hannah Barry Gallery, London (2021) and Guts Gallery, London (2021). Las Soledades is Martin’s American debut solo exhibition and her first exhibition with Steve Turner.
Born 1995, Madrid, Spain
Lives and works in London
Education
2017
BFA, City & Guilds of London Art School
Solo and Two-Person Exhibitions
2022
Las Soledades, Steve Turner, Los Angeles
2021
Artissima Fair, Torino, Italy (with Galerie Sébastien Bertran)
I saw Something Else Under The Sun, Galerie Sébastien Bertran, Geneva, Switzerland
I Am Unsure As To If It Is Still Alive, Quench Gallery, Margate, England
Group Exhibitions
2021
Run With The Wolves, Lawrie Shabibi Galerie, Dubai
Tree and Leaf, Hannah Barry Gallery, London
A New Artworld, Guts Gallery, London
Les Dances Nocturnes, East Contemporary, Entrevaux, France
Old Friends, New Friends, Collective Ending, London
2020
Pending…, San Mei Gallery, London
Always Winter, Brooke Benington Gallery, London
2019
Absinthe #3, Collective Ending, London Artsy x AucArt: Best New Now
2018
Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair, London
Rock, Paper, Scissors, Slaughterhaus Print Studio, London
YICCA 2018, Hernandez Art Gallery, Milan
9 Artists, London
Residencies
2021
Autumn Residency 2021, CobXPLOP, London
2019 AucArt Lab Residency, London
Bibliography
2022
Ch’ien, Letha. “Natalia González Martín Creates Surreal Visions of Solitude through Religious Iconography,” Artsy, March
2021
Donati De Conti, Elisabetta. “La Guida Completa Ad Artissima,” Elle Decor, November
Bonner-Evans, Bella. “A Feast For The Eye,” FAD Magazine, December
“Run With The Wolves,” Art Plugged, December
Jeff. “Artist Spotlight: Natalia Gonzalez Martin,” Boooooooom, July
Angelos, Ayla. “Interview,” It’s Nice That, April
Woodward, Anna. “Podcast Episode,” The Artist Contemporary, March
Starbuck, Richard. “Artist Interview,” Floorr Magazine, Issue 19
