About
Artist Bio
Carole Nataf is an experienced London-based artist who was born in France. She has been exhibited in galleries in the U.S., Paris and London (Mall Galleries, London; Kingston Gallery, Boston; etc.) and her work is represented in dozens of private collections and publications. She took part in the U.K. TV Show Portrait Artist of the Year 2020 on Sky TV. She holds degrees in Philosophy from La Sorbonne (B.A.) and History of Art (M.A.) from the Courtauld Institute where she is currently undertaking a PhD in HIstory of Art.
While studying art privately in Paris, NYC, San Francisco and Boston, she was naturally drawn to painting outdoors and from life, immersed in the heart of her subjects. Influenced by the French impressionists and inspired by contemporary culture, the world she depicts is soft and colorful.
Carole’s more recent work explores contemporary visual culture and the effects of social media, iphone photography and digital culture on representation. Adopting high exposure, saturated colors and distorted angles, her recent portraits express the ambiguity of self-presentation in the digital age.
Artist Statement
Figurative painting is an emotional and imaginative journey, not just an exercise in copying. My work attempts to recreate perceptual impressions and visual effects by developing a coherent, personal language. More than the object of my attention, it is the process of seeing itself, the experience of sight that I wish to lay out on the canvas. Exploring the expressive power and subtle flavors of soft and vibrant colors enables me to get at the heart of what I see.
I am inspired to paint the intimacy of my surroundings and the attraction that absorbing places, stirring people and tantalizing objects exercise on me. As a plein air painter, I favor immediate contact with my subject. However, I do venture painting after digital photography and explore the frustration of its artificial format in my recent portraits.
I approach the creative process as construction work, where simplified shapes are juxtaposed without blending to assemble a landscape, a body or a face. I apply thick brushstrokes onto a wet surface to obtain a rich and juicy texture and to manifest the tangible physical presence of my subject imposing itself.
Artist CV
ARTISTIC EDUCATION
Parsons School of Design, Summer Program, New York, Illustration
La Sorbonne, Bachelor in Humanities, Paris France, Major in Philosophy
Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Studio Art Classes, Oil Painting and Portraits
Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Oil Painting
Courtauld Institute of Art, MA History of Art, London, United-Kingdom
Courtauld Institute of Art, PhD History of Art, London, United-Kingdom
EXHIBITIONS
2021
- Figurative Art Now, The Federation of British Artists, Mall Galleries, London, U.K. — Online Group Exhibition
- Fitzrovia Gallery, Hampstead Art Society Annual Exhibition, London, U.K. — Group Exhibition
2020
- Royal Society of Marine Artists Annual Exhibition, Mall Galleries, London, U.K.
- Holly Bush Emerging Woman Painter Prize 2020, Ecclestone Art Agency, Burgh House, New Square, London, U.K.
- Portrait Artist of the Year 2020, TV Show, Sky TV
2019
- 'The Nude Show", Group Exhibition, Candid Art Gallery, London
- Solo Exhibition, Strada Exhibition, Paris, France
2018
- Art Explosion Open Studios, San Francisco, CA
- 'Gray Area' Exhibition, Kingston Gallery, Boston, MA
- 'The Figure in Color' group exhibition, Cambridge Center for Adult Education, Cambridge, MA
2017
- 87th Annual Juried Open Exhibition, National Art League, Douglaston, New York
- Recent Works and The Berta Golahny Awards 2017 exhibition, CCAE, Cambridge, Massachusetts, group exhibition
- 'Contours and Configurations', Golden Thread Gallery, Hartford, Connecticut
2016
- Carole Nataf Oil Paintings, Barismo on Broadway, Cambridge, Massachusetts, solo exhibition
- Art’n’Noise Holiday Splash, Boston Massachusetts
AWARDS
2020
- The Holly Bush Emerging Woman Painter Prize 2020 - Winner of the John Wood Prize
2016
- Revere Beach Art Festival, First Prize, Plein Air Painting
PUBLICATIONS
2020
- The Courtauldian, Issue 23, Sense
2019
- The Courtauldian, Issue 21, Cosmo
- The Courtauldian, Issue 20, Islands