Exhibition

Natalia Gonzalez Martin
Rite of Passage

Duration_ May 21–June 22, 2024
Opening_ Tuesday, May 21, 5–8 PM
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Installation Views / Works / Press Release

Gallery Vacancy is pleased to present Natalia Gonzalez Martin’s solo project, Rite of Passage, on view from May 21 to June 22, 2024, showcasing a new body of oil paintings on board.

Set against the backdrop of rural Spain, this exhibition draws inspiration from Spanish playwright Federico Garcia Lorca’s work, Yerma, reinterpreting its climax scene at the festival of the Romerias. This religious ritual addresses a specific catholic moment: the arrival, which symbolizes not only the advent of the divine, but also profanely perceives the transitioning points of a person’s life passage. In the play, the carnivalesque celebration was sent into an abrupt nosedive, as the conflicts between the heroine’s individual desires and the brutality of reality annihilate the tenuous balance precariously sustained through the disciplines of societal norms. 

Drawing from the formal qualities of icon paintings and the vanitas, Gonzalez Martin’s evocative works embark on a profound exploration of gender identity, contemplating on an intricate relationship between the body, traditions, and the resilience of the human spirit. Transforming the exhibition space into a site of ritual and artistic practice, Gonzalez Martin utilizes a series of religious and cultural symbols, bridging the connection between historical moments and contemporary imageries. Rite of Passage serves as a poignant reflection of the inner struggles faced by women throughout history, navigating the delicate balance between personal realizations and the weight of moral heritage.     

Indistinctly interluded in the labyrinthine presentation, images of enigmatic female figures and feast objects are woven into the emotional landscape of Gonzalez Martin, where the rejoicing semblance is subtly jeopardized by symbols of violence and vulnerability. In La Muchacha mira al Monte (The Girl Looks At The Mountain) (2024) and Llévame bajo tu manto (Carry Me Under Your Dress) (2024), the recurring motif of the Manila shawl, a quintessential accessory deeply rooted in Spanish colonial history, serves as a tangible representation of gender roles and cultural heritage, embodying a woman’s sense of propriety and social standing. Whereas the female figures are depicted with obscured and fragmented identity, either looking away from the audience or intentionally cropped from below the neckline. Shying away from any visible confrontations, the absence of the figures’ facial appearances challenges traditional painting conventions, shedding light into the inner workings of the human psyche beyond mere physicality. The shawls step in and become the substitute of female expressions. The soft, tactile quality of the fabric imbues a visceral sense of raw emotion, mirroring the complexities of womanhood and the elusiveness for autonomy. 

The tender, sensual metaphors thread through Gonzalez Martin’s practice, resembling the fleshly depicted fruits. Exquisite and succulent, the fruits in Almuerzo (Lunch) and Ofrendas (Offerings) (2024) emanate a gemlike glow with crisp water drops hanging on the surface. The sensuality evokes one of swollen pink eyes overflowing with tears, while laminated in a state of permanent low-level of mourning, or perhaps joy. Being a perpetual theme in art history, the flood of tears that swept over central and western European paintings for centuries, is now rediscovered in Gonzalez Martin’s erotic paintings as a contemporary approach to engage with the sense of transience. Blurring the boundaries between the divine, secular, and earthly realms, the bodily fluids epitomize beyond the classic emblem of the weeping Mary or the blood of Christ, yet gesturing toward the lived experience in the modern world – the sweat and tears meticulously underlaid in our emotional encounters. Inviting viewers to reflect on their own interpretation of love, loss, and longing, the artist employs the symbol of resilience and strength, as a testament to the enduring power of the human spirit.
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