Sonia Martin

SONIA MARTIN

Sonia Martin is a London based artist. After graduate and postgraduate studies in Fine Art, British artist Sonia Martin completed a Masters Degree in printmaking at Camberwell College of Art, and is an elected member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers.

Arising from her response to the past and to the present, her subjects are a merging of the here-and-now and the world of the imagination.  Sonia's themes are memory and mortality and the search for freedom.

SELECTED GROUP SHOWS

London Original Print Fair, Royal Academy, London 2017/18/19 National Open Print, Bankside Gallery, London 2016/17/18/19

Royal Academy Summer Show, London
SEVEN exhibition Group show, London 2018
The Masters, Bankside Gallery curated by Norman Ackroyd RA 2016
NOA , London and Touring 2014/16/17 LOST, Salisbury Arts, Wiltshire 2014
Lynn Painter Stainers Prize Exhibition, London 2012
WW Gallery Salon Art Prize, London 2012
Cork Street Open, London 2012
Marle Gallery, Axminster, Devon 2011/12/13/14 Barbican Arts Group Trust, London 2011/14
Print Salon,The Mews Project, London 2010
Art on Paper, Royal College of Art, London 2006 Collyer-Bristow Gallery, London 1993-9/02/3 City Art Gallery, Leeds 1999/2000 Bankside Browser Project, Tate Gallery, London 1999
Zone Printmaking, National Theatre, London 1998 Contemporary Print Fair, The Barbican, London 1998
People – Five Views, Morley Gallery, London 1996

1995/6/9/03/04/16

Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London
Fantasy, Touring Exhibition UK and UAE 1994/5 Burlington New Gallery, London 1994 Contemporary Art Society, London 1993/6

SELECTED SOLO SHOWS

Estudio Abierto, Mexico 2020 Westminster Reference Library, London 2016/17 Ripley Arts, Kent, Print Show 2010
New Hall College, Cambridge, Works on Paper 2008
GX Gallery, London 2005/6/7 Danielle Arnaud Contemporary Art, London 1996/7
Long & Ryle Contemporary Art, London 1994

AWARDS

Estudio Abierto Residency, Mexico 2020
Dentons Art Prize Shortlist, London 2019 Fundacion Amazonia Residency, Bolivia 2018
Chhaap Print Foundation Artist Residency, India 2014
Cork Printmakers Residency, Ireland 2011
GX Gallery Exhibition Award, London 2005
Winsor & Newton Watercolour Prize, London 2002 Wimbledon College of Art Residency, London 2000
Eaton Fund for Artists, London 2001 Fundacion Valparaiso Residency, Spain 2000 Oppenheim-John Downs Memorial Trust, London 1999/2000

PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
University of the Arts, London, New Hall College, Cambridge, Southwark Art Collection, London, Cork Printmakers, Ireland, Southampton City Art Gallery, Hampshire, Chhaap Print Foundation, India, Morley College, London, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, MACO, Mexico.

QUALIFICATIONS
Masters Degree in Printmaking, Camberwell College of Art, London 1998 Postgraduate Diploma in Painting, City & Guilds Art School, London 1988
Byam Shaw Diploma, Byam Shaw School of Art, London 1981

Artist Statement

British artist Sonia Martin completed graduate and postgraduate studies in Fine Art, and a master’s degree in printmaking at Camberwell College of Art, London. She was awarded a Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant in 2021, and in 2022 she was shortlisted for the Contemporary British Painting Prize. Her work is held in public collections including the V&A Museum, London; the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge; and the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford.

Of her work, Sonia Martin states:

“The world I create is from my observations, memory and experiences. Many of the subjects emerge as exiles; migrants between the here-and-now and the world of the imagination. They are explorations of emotions and feelings that constantly redefine themselves in relation to the world.

I'm drawn to how experiences can be simultaneously everyday and extraordinary and in these imaginary works I hope to give expression to this paradox.

My work has been exhibited in many exhibitions both in the UK and abroad, and I am a member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers.”