MARTA PENTER otium

ARTIST RECEPTION
SATURDAY | SEPTEMBER 10, 201 1 | 57PM

451 WEST BROADWAY, NYC | 212.387.0208 | CAMPTONGALLERY.COM

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absence

47 x 70 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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b u d dy

47 x 47 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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l at e a f t e r n o o n

43 x 62 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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does the world exist?

51 x 51 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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blue sea

51 x 51 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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the blue

chair girl V

33 x 35 inches

mixed media
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absent minded

47 x 70 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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the blue

c h a i r g i r l III

33 x 59 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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immersion

47 x 47 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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the blue

chair girl IV

33 x 35 inches

mixed media
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shooting breeze

47 x 47 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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the blue chair girl ii

47 x 47 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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visages

51 x 51 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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the blue

chair girl VI

33 x 59 inches

mixed media
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snapshot

47 x 94 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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this is it

51 x 51 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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c a r n a va l i i

51 x 51 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
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legs up

43 x 62 inches

o i l o n c a n va s
M A R TA P E N T E R
Brazilian painter Marta Penters latest series transports us to the lively beaches of
Santa Catarina, on the coast of Brazil, where groups of friends play in the surf and
stroll along the sand, solitary beachgoers sink into thought, and people laugh at
private jokes while reclining in the sun. Penter is an artist deeply interested in human
connections, and particularly in the idea of intimacy; she chooses her subjects with
an anthropological eye. In her paintings, subtle expressions of body language convey
entire personal histories and relationships; in fact, Penter studied psychology before
becoming an artist, a sensibility that remains ever-present in her art. Her complex
portraits describe not just moments in time, but slices of life.
For the viewer, Penters work seems to float between real and imaginary statesa
quality that is partly the result of her monochromatic style, infused in these latest
paintings with small touches of color, such as a luminous sapphire blue that Penter
hit upon after a trip to New York, when she sketched people lounging in the park
using pencil and a blue ballpoint pen. As in the work of renowned artist Gerhard
Richter, who likewise blurs the distinction between painting and photography,
Penters carefully restricted palette both heightens and suppresses reality. On one
hand, her paintings depict an altered world, where color is reduced to essential
tones and figures float over pure white backgrounds. Yet her virtuosic realism, her Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1957, Penter was involved in art from an early age. She
expert rendering of the human body in all its various attitudes, gives her paintings has exhibited at numerous galleries and art fairs both in Brazil and internationally,
the authority and immediacy of photographs. A masterful figurative painter by any including Galeria de Arte Mosaico in Porto Alegre, Brazil; Galeria Joao Lagoa,
assessment, Penter brings flesh and textiles, notoriously challenging subjects to Portugal; and IV Bienal de Aquarela de Vina Del Mar, Chile. Despite her playful
paint, alive on every canvas. Remarkably, her scenes appear all the more life-like for interlude with color, Penters work remains largely monochromatic, focused on
being rendered in black and white. a dynamic realism that weaves through intense detail to blurred views. As in the
work of renowned artist Gerhard Richter, who likewise blurs the distinction between
painting and photography, Penters carefully restricted palette both heightens and
Yet even more than her technical skill, it is Penters ability to engage the viewer in
an intimate dialogue that truly sets her apart as an artist. Explaining her preference suppresses reality.
for large-scale canvases, she cites her desire to fully immerse the viewer into each
paintingto not only depict intimacy in a literal sense, but to recreate its energy.
As art critic and professor Paula Ramos has written of Penter, It is the human that
touches and instigates her; the human is the essence of her thinking and work.
This deep sense of humanity, this profound celebration of others existence, radiates
from each of her paintings. Like an antidote to a world of increasingly fast-paced,
4 5 1 W ES T B R OADWAY | NE W YO R K
remote communication, Marta Penters art reminds us of the importance of personal
connection and empathy. 212.387.0208 | CAMPTONGALLERY.COM