artists register

Marta Montoliu

Segant blat

Segant blat

Original
Oil on canvas
60cm x 73cm

Statement

Her works talk about a common substance, subjacent in the world surrounding us; about the present and the past, about what lives through different time periods and cultures. She paints concepts, ideas; capturing much more than the anecdote of any particular moment, however transcendent. Marta has a special sensibility to see through people and situations, and possesses a technique that allows her to express this talent with beauty and the eternal promise of the existence of something else. In a cross paths between feelings and rationality, her work combines beauty, creativity and naturalism with scientific accuracy; an accuracy naturally born in her out of curiosity and honesty. Her works are strangely honest, in their principles and execution, grounded on a wide set of sources. She greets all of them, aware that in their heterogeneousness lays our visual understanding of the world, and transforming it with darting subtlety and persistent slowness; that of the painter’s eye. It’s an exercise of tremendous hard work, meditation and exhaustiveness. She is particularly decided not to settle for the anecdote and obtain only superficial answers to the questions she asks. This particular axiom is clearly visible in the variety and unconventionality of the sources from where she obtains inspiration. It’s an aesthetic filtering of an ethic that she’s firmly betting on. Marta diversifies her creation in many ways, creating a new and different pictorial experience out of every vital experience and personal interest. She aims for a specific engagement, suggesting more than describing, avoiding general seduction, converting sights into marks.

Biography

Marta Montoliu Born in Sabadell (Barcelona). Currently lives and works between Barcelona and London. Marta has been drawing from as long as she remembers. Since she discovered oil painting at the age of seventeen, art is where her internal self and the world surrounding her meet. Soon she expressed her definite approach to painting as a vital part of her life when willingly opted not to go to art school. A few painting prices and some exhibitions during the 90s followed, but from 1998 she entered a period of pictorial introspection and research. She diversified her art into different series, exploring the expressive powers of painting. For her painting is a way of specific engagement, and it’s shown in the several series she has produced in the last decade, in constant evolution in their diverse technique and multi faceted concepts. As a result of considering these years as a vital exploration, she decided not to exhibit in art galleries, only displaying her art occasionally to a close circle of friends. Never wanting to limit herself to art circles and to be able to create her art without constraints, she leads a non-conventional life for an artist. By keeping her different lives completely separated once again she strives to define her own views within a world as complex as ours, while conveying the utter disjuncture between the artist and its art. She’s got works in private collections in Spain, England, United States and Singapore and currently some of her artworks are exposed in Arts Gora and La Fondue de Gracia Restaurant, Barcelona. Recently her illustrations ( under section People (Digital Art) in this Web) featured in book "Ilustracion de vanguardia" by Monsa editorial (Bcn, 2008). Artistic blog: www.martamontoliu-en.blogspot.com