Born in 1972, Natalie grew up in an environment dominated by art and literature. Graduating from the University of Brighton in 2003 with a degree in sculpture, she continued to work in conceptual installation until discovering a talent and love for painting. Focusing primarily on depictions of urban architecture, her painting has developed into a highly detailed, representational style that still retains painterly qualities.“Architecture stands as an artificial construct in the natural landscape and yet, like the human beings that build and inhabit the structures, they suffer at the passing of time, decaying and withering, the wear and tear a record of the lives and movement occurring in and around it, an archive of events told in erosion, oxidisation and rot.
There are no figures in my paintings but the absent hand of many can be seen through the very existence of the structures and the character they have developed. There is a sense of solitude but with serenity rather than loss. I also hope to create a sense of movement but only on the part of the viewer, the still structures inviting passage physically or from one state of mind to another.
I’m currently working on a new series of paintings exploring the idea of levels of reality, fictions and narrative.”
Natalie first exhibited her paintings at the Brighton Art Fair in 2007 and has expanded her portfolio by painting full-time since then. She has had work accepted by The Bath Society of Artists, The Society of Women Artists, The London Group and The Royal Academy.
www.nataliemartin.co.uk
info@nataliemartin.co.uk
