Marta Prats: the value of the essential in contemporary art
by Manuel Bonilla for And-Art Works Magazine
A contemporary perspective on everyday subjects
There are artists whose work does not seek attention, yet remains with the viewer. Marta Prats belongs to this category: her work operates quietly, but with lasting presence.
Her practice begins in sculpture and extends into drawing, watercolor, and contemporary printmaking. Across these media, a consistent sensibility emerges—an ability to transform everyday subjects into something suspended, almost still in time.
Flowers, figures, and simple scenes are not presented as narratives, but as moments of presence.
Contemporary sculpture: between the familiar and the unexpected
Prats’ sculptural work is essential to understanding her practice. Some of her three-dimensional pieces—occasionally described as “creatures”—occupy a space between the familiar and the unusual.
There is a subtle form of humor present: at times slightly dark, yet also gentle and understated. These works do not aim to provoke, but to shift perception, suggesting that the unfamiliar may simply be a variation of the everyday.
This relationship with form and material continues in her works on paper.
Contemporary printmaking and recycled materials in art
Printmaking plays a central role in her artistic language. Marta Prats approaches it with openness, combining traditional techniques with unconventional supports.
Alongside linoleum, she uses recycled materials such as Tetra Pak packaging as printing matrices. This approach is not only environmentally conscious but also conceptually aligned with her practice: materials that have completed one function are reintroduced into a new visual context.
Irregularities, textures, and unexpected marks are not corrected—they are integrated into the final image.
Printmaking and contemporary art collecting
In today’s art collecting landscape, there is a growing interest in works that establish a lasting and personal connection. Marta Prats’ printmaking naturally aligns with this perspective.
Her prints are not secondary works, but complete pieces with their own identity. They retain the strength of gesture and the coherence of her visual language, revealing new layers over time.
A poetics of the everyday
Her subjects are not grand. People, flowers, minimal scenes. Yet within this apparent simplicity, something more complex emerges: a sense of suspension. The figures do not seem to act, but to exist. This quiet presence invites a slower way of looking.
Perhaps this is one of the reasons her work resonates with collectors. It does not require immediate interpretation. It unfolds gradually, in relation to the viewer.
At And-Art Works, we value this kind of relationship with art—not accumulation, but coexistence. Marta Prats’ work reflects this approach: a practice grounded in consistency, gesture, and an ability to find meaning in what might otherwise go unnoticed.
There is something quietly significant in this process. In seeing potential in a discarded material. In shaping a form that feels both unfamiliar and close. In observing a flower as if for the first time.
And perhaps, in that gesture, there is also a way of understanding how we relate to the world around us.
