Meet our #StudioSunday artist, Kiwi/British painter Natalia Chaplin. Her work explores a variety of subjects and media, often experimenting with blurring the boundary between realism and abstraction. Her repertoire varies to completing stunning portraits and colorful, often textured, compositions.
After gaining her Bachelor of Arts and Media, the artist has showcased her work around New Zealand and created several stop motion animations for Nelson City Council, focusing on local species and targeted towards young children and the general public.
Her passion for the arts has been passed down through her family and influenced by life-experiences, such as a piece of music that stirs something deep within, a jarring news article, a piece of literature that changes her perception of things or intrigue found in nature. With inspirations such as Paul Delaroche, Jason Brooks, Ansel Adams, and Marilyn Minter, Chaplin explores a variety of subjects and media, and she enjoys experimenting and pushing her comfort zone:
“While the subject matter and concept often determines the media I choose, watching my vision materialize on the canvas and capturing the mood or essence of a subject drives me”, as she describes.
When she creates, no medium is off-limits, such as oil, watercolour, ink, soft pastel, graphite, charcoal, and acrylic. Growing up living in different countries has influenced her practice, urging her to seek out the small things and beauty in unusual places. As she mentions, every piece she creates helps her grow as an artist, while there is always something to be discovered with practice:
“While my methodology is majorly consistent, it is influenced by the subject and chosen media; I like to think of my approach and process as one that is constantly in flux, and evolves with wherever a certain body of work or lone idea may take me, linking all of my art as a spider webbing chain reaction which will never reach a single conclusion but grows in many directions.”
To her, the most gratifying experience as an artist is the interaction with her viewers during her exhibitions. Chaplin has produced commemorative pieces for Royal visits on behalf of the Nelson and Auckland City Councils, she has been awarded the title of ‘Nelson Nature Hero’ for her contribution to the community and local flora and fauna, while she has sold her works to Hollywood actresses Jennifer Lawrence and Judi Dench.
The artist will showcase her works during our collective exhibition “Turn a Leaf”, between September 1 to September 22, 2020.
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