Marta Penter
"It is not just about reflections and overlapping images; it is about illusion and reality, a questioning of who we are in this dynamic exchange between the inside and the outside, here and there, the near and the distant, the now and what has been. It is a frantic search to recognize ourselves in this kaleidoscope of parallel worlds, chaotically wonderful, unfolding before us in the windows of life!
The windows are portals inviting us to look more deeply, revealing the untold stories that inhabit the space between what is shown and what is hidden. Thus, as we contemplate them, we are challenged to see beyond appearances, to decipher the narratives that echo in the shadows and the lights, and, ultimately, to discover who we truly are in this multifaceted universe." - Marta Penter
Marta Penter studied psychology before turning to art, a sensibility evident in her careful observations of human behavior and connections. She continues to live and work in in Porto Alegre, and has exhibited internationally at art fairs and museums.
Biography
Brazilian artist Marta Penter creates paintings, primarily large-scale canvases, that hold a magnifying glass up to human emotions and behavior, examining the multitude of meanings that unfold from all kinds of situations, gestures, and relationships in everyday life. Attuned to our ever-expanding dependence on technology and the complex way in which objects, structures, and systems define and order our world, she paints her scenes in exacting, realistic detail, rendering everything from layered reflections in shop windows to precise facial expressions and styles of hair and clothing with incredible skill.
Working in a limited, often mono- or duochrome palette of black (or blue) and white punctuated with intentional moments of saturated color, she focuses our attention on the relationships between her subjects, their placement in the frame, their cultural signifiers, and their moods. To spend time with one of her paintings is to be enveloped by an expansive, finely imagined record of contemporary existence. Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1957, Penter studied psychology before turning to art, her earliest passion. She maintains a studio in Porto Alegre and has exhibited internationally, from the U.S. to Europe to South Korea, with work in the collections of the MACRS and MARGS museums, Brazil.
Penter herself is an avid traveler, an artist whose creative process is sparked by the experience of being an observer in a new landscape: “being of the place, but not belonging to it.” She studied psychology before turning to art, a sensibility evident in her careful observations of human behavior and connections. She continues to live and work in in Porto Alegre, and has exhibited internationally at art fairs and museums.
Born
1957 Brazil
Works in Museum Collections
2010 No Title, drawing on Arches paper, 150x78cm, Donated by Marta Penter, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul.
2009 IN Suspenso, graphite and bic pen on paper, 40x30cm, Donated by André Venzon, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Parallel Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Montecito, CA
2018 Floating Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2016 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
2016 Among Silence, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2015 Entre Silencios, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2013 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2011 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
2010 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2009 IN Suspenso, Studio Clio Instituto de Arte e Humanismo, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2008 Intimidade Compartilhada, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2007 Ao Pe do Olhar, Aquarelas, Galeria João Lagoa, Porto Alegre, Portugal.
2004 Cruzamento de Tempoos, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2002 Memorias, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Algre, Brazil.
1995 Aquarelas, The King Hooper Mansion Gallery, Marblehead,MA.
1994 Viajando Por Si Mesmo, Galeria de Arte Mosaico, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
1992 Aquarelas, Galeria dos Arcos, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Grace Kelly 90 years, Prince Albert II, Monaco
Art Market San Francisco, Caldwell Snyder Gallery
SCOPE Miami, Caldwell Snyder Gallery
2018 35th Anniversary Show, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco
2018 Art Market Hamptons, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, NY, NY
2017 10 Year Anniversary Show, St. Helena, CA.
2016 Context Miami, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Miami, FL.
Context NY, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, New York, NY.
Art Market SF, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Hyperrealism. Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae, South Korea
2015 21c Hyperrealism: Breathing, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, South Korea.
Hyperrealism: To See, To Show and To Be Seen, Suwon Ipark Museum of Art - SIMA, Suwon, South Korea.
Art Market SF, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2014 Miami Context, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Miami, FL.
PS Art Fair, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Palm Springs, CA.
Art Southampton, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Southampton, NY
Constructive Voluptiousness - Drawing Pleasure and
Planning in the MAC-RS Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Útero, museu e domesticidade: gerações do feminino na arte, Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
30 x 30, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2012 Art Hamptons, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY.
2010 SF Fine Art Fair, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Rendez-vous avec une femme. Ed II., Galerie Adler, Paris, France.
2009 Miami Context, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Miami, FL.
2008 Aquarela Internacional, Pinacoteca de Sao Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2007 Selecoes da Arte Contemporanea Brasileira, Rio de Janerio, Brazil.
2005 Tres Artistas Contemporaneos, Fundacao Cultural ECARTA.
Press
PRESS
Selected Artworks
Born
1957 Brazil
Works in Museum Collections
2010 No Title, drawing on Arches paper, 150x78cm, Donated by Marta Penter, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul.
2009 IN Suspenso, graphite and bic pen on paper, 40x30cm, Donated by André Venzon, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2022 Parallel Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Montecito, CA
2018 Floating Time, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA
2016 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, St. Helena, CA.
2016 Among Silence, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2015 Entre Silencios, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2013 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2011 Campton Gallery, New York, NY.
2010 Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2009 IN Suspenso, Studio Clio Instituto de Arte e Humanismo, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2008 Intimidade Compartilhada, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2007 Ao Pe do Olhar, Aquarelas, Galeria João Lagoa, Porto Alegre, Portugal.
2004 Cruzamento de Tempoos, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2002 Memorias, Bolsa de Arte, Porto Algre, Brazil.
1995 Aquarelas, The King Hooper Mansion Gallery, Marblehead,MA.
1994 Viajando Por Si Mesmo, Galeria de Arte Mosaico, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
1992 Aquarelas, Galeria dos Arcos, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2019 Grace Kelly 90 years, Prince Albert II, Monaco
Art Market San Francisco, Caldwell Snyder Gallery
SCOPE Miami, Caldwell Snyder Gallery
2018 35th Anniversary Show, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco
2018 Art Market Hamptons, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, NY, NY
2017 10 Year Anniversary Show, St. Helena, CA.
2016 Context Miami, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Miami, FL.
Context NY, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, New York, NY.
Art Market SF, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Hyperrealism. Clayarch Gimhae Museum, Gimhae, South Korea
2015 21c Hyperrealism: Breathing, Daejeon Museum of Art, Daejeon, South Korea.
Hyperrealism: To See, To Show and To Be Seen, Suwon Ipark Museum of Art - SIMA, Suwon, South Korea.
Art Market SF, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2014 Miami Context, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Miami, FL.
PS Art Fair, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Palm Springs, CA.
Art Southampton, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Southampton, NY
Constructive Voluptiousness - Drawing Pleasure and
Planning in the MAC-RS Collection, Museum of Contemporary Art of Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
Útero, museu e domesticidade: gerações do feminino na arte, Museu de Arte do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
30 x 30, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
2012 Art Hamptons, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Bridgehampton, NY.
2010 SF Fine Art Fair, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, San Francisco, CA.
Rendez-vous avec une femme. Ed II., Galerie Adler, Paris, France.
2009 Miami Context, Caldwell Snyder Gallery, Miami, FL.
2008 Aquarela Internacional, Pinacoteca de Sao Caetano do Sul, Sao Paulo, Brazil.
2007 Selecoes da Arte Contemporanea Brasileira, Rio de Janerio, Brazil.
2005 Tres Artistas Contemporaneos, Fundacao Cultural ECARTA.
Brazilian artist Marta Penter creates paintings, primarily large-scale canvases, that hold a magnifying glass up to human emotions and behavior, examining the multitude of meanings that unfold from all kinds of situations, gestures, and relationships in everyday life. Attuned to our ever-expanding dependence on technology and the complex way in which objects, structures, and systems define and order our world, she paints her scenes in exacting, realistic detail, rendering everything from layered reflections in shop windows to precise facial expressions and styles of hair and clothing with incredible skill.
Working in a limited, often mono- or duochrome palette of black (or blue) and white punctuated with intentional moments of saturated color, she focuses our attention on the relationships between her subjects, their placement in the frame, their cultural signifiers, and their moods. To spend time with one of her paintings is to be enveloped by an expansive, finely imagined record of contemporary existence. Born in Porto Alegre, Brazil in 1957, Penter studied psychology before turning to art, her earliest passion. She maintains a studio in Porto Alegre and has exhibited internationally, from the U.S. to Europe to South Korea, with work in the collections of the MACRS and MARGS museums, Brazil.
Penter herself is an avid traveler, an artist whose creative process is sparked by the experience of being an observer in a new landscape: “being of the place, but not belonging to it.” She studied psychology before turning to art, a sensibility evident in her careful observations of human behavior and connections. She continues to live and work in in Porto Alegre, and has exhibited internationally at art fairs and museums.
Biography
Press
"It is not just about reflections and overlapping images; it is about illusion and reality, a questioning of who we are in this dynamic exchange between the inside and the outside, here and there, the near and the distant, the now and what has been. It is a frantic search to recognize ourselves in this kaleidoscope of parallel worlds, chaotically wonderful, unfolding before us in the windows of life!
The windows are portals inviting us to look more deeply, revealing the untold stories that inhabit the space between what is shown and what is hidden. Thus, as we contemplate them, we are challenged to see beyond appearances, to decipher the narratives that echo in the shadows and the lights, and, ultimately, to discover who we truly are in this multifaceted universe." - Marta Penter
Marta Penter studied psychology before turning to art, a sensibility evident in her careful observations of human behavior and connections. She continues to live and work in in Porto Alegre, and has exhibited internationally at art fairs and museums.
Marta Penter
In her new series “Parallel Time,” Brazilian artist Marta Penter delves into the psychology of border-zones: between here and there, past and future, self and other, action and stillness. Rendered with her signature monochrome photorealism, accented with elements of bright pink or blue, figures flow through stages of transit, absorbed in their thoughts or the screens of their devices.
"It is not just about reflections and overlapping images; it is about illusion and reality, a questioning of who we are in this dynamic exchange between the inside and the outside, here and there, the near and the distant, the now and what has been. It is a frantic search to recognize ourselves in this kaleidoscope of parallel worlds, chaotically wonderful, unfolding before us in the windows of life!
The windows are portals inviting us to look more deeply, revealing the untold stories that inhabit the space between what is shown and what is hidden. Thus, as we contemplate them, we are challenged to see beyond appearances, to decipher the narratives that echo in the shadows and the lights, and, ultimately, to discover who we truly are in this multifaceted universe." - Marta Penter
Marta Penter studied psychology before turning to art, a sensibility evident in her careful observations of human behavior and connections. She continues to live and work in in Porto Alegre, and has exhibited internationally at art fairs and museums.