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Natalie Chapman

Natalie Chapman’s women hold their ground. There’s a kind of casual boldness to them. They know where they are. They’ve survived it, or shaped it, or both.

And still, there’s tenderness. A chipped mug. A hand resting. A knowing look. Shifting power. Girls with nowhere soft to land who learned to land in themselves

Natalie's work reached a pivotal level of recognition when she was invited to show solo at the Museum of Modern Art in Wales in 2021 – her 9th solo show. It’s a remarkable achievement for any artist to be invited to hold a solo show at MOMA Wales. But to have been invited just 5 years after graduating – and for this solo show to be running alongside a companion group show, of some of the most notable and esteemed Welsh artists – is testament to how seriously the art world is taking her. And see more recent BBC coverage here.

Education

Carmarthen School of Art (2017)

Selected exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions
(2021) All the things I could have been, MOMA, Wales
(2020) Heads, canfas, cardigan
(2019) Love you mum, The volcano, Swansea
(2019) Love you mum, The Coach House, St Dogmaels
(2019) Love you mum, Canfas, Cardigan
Group Exhibitions
(2022) Summer show, MOMA wales, Machynlleth
(2022) AAF Hampstead, Affordable art fair, London
(2022) Fresh, Fresh art fair, Ascot
(2022) Edinburgh EAF, Edinburgh Art fair, Edinburgh
(2022) Belief, behaviour and belonging, Gallery Gwyn, Wales
(2019) LAG, Tabernacle, Aberaeron
(2019) Summer open, Oriel cric, Crickhowell
(2018) Summer open, Oriel crick, Crickhowell
(2018) A Welsh story, The Coach House, St Dogmaels
(2017) moment in time, norwegian church, cardiff
(2017) summer open, MOMA, Machynlleth
(2015) moment in time, botanical gardens, wales

Artist statement

My history, my past and my present: I paint portraits that engage with identity and issues based around dysfunctional relationships and social documentary. I focus on spontaneous snapshot-compositions, saturated colour spaces, and incidental objects in order to set a scene of everyday life. I want my work to feel edgy and to seduce the viewer into contemplating ambiguous tension, a sense of emptiness, boredom and anxiety. These works are on large canvases to create presence and intensify personal stories using gritty expression and garish colour. I want to create images about human relationships that are both dysfunctional and tender.