MATERIAL RESEARCH
An artistic investigation into memory, transformation, and the expressive potential of materials.
Material research occupies a distinctive place within Natali de Paula's artistic practice. Throughout her work, the artist expands the possibilities of painting by incorporating surfaces marked by time, use, and human experience, transforming them into an integral part of each artwork's visual language.
Rather than serving merely as alternative supports, these materials preserve histories, textures, and memories that interact with the artist's gestural approach. Painting does not erase their original identity, instead, it reveals new aesthetic possibilities, establishing a dialogue between material, time, and contemporary expression.
Within this research, transformation becomes more than a physical process, it becomes an artistic gesture. Each work emerges from the balance between honoring the material's previous life and exploring the expressive freedom of painting, demonstrating how discarded surfaces can acquire new meaning while preserving the authenticity of their origins.
Sustainability is not presented as a theme, but as a natural consequence of an artistic practice that values permanence, memory, and the transformative potential of art.
Truck Tarpaulin
Contemporary painting on reclaimed truck tarpaulins, where material, memory, and gesture converge.
The works developed on reclaimed truck tarpaulins represent one of the most significant directions within Natali de Paula's material research. Marked by time, long journeys, and their original utilitarian purpose, these surfaces carry a distinct identity that remains visible even after their transformation into works of art.
Throughout her creative process, the artist preserves the original textures, signs of wear, and traces of use, integrating them into the pictorial composition. The tarpaulin ceases to function merely as a support and becomes an active participant in the visual narrative, establishing a dialogue between memory, materiality, and painting.
Layers of color and gestural interventions create new meanings without concealing the history embedded in the surface. Each work becomes a unique encounter between a material that has already lived many lives and a contemporary pictorial language rooted in gesture, color, and freedom.
This body of work highlights the expressive potential of reclaimed materials while reaffirming painting as a space for transformation, where time, matter, and artistic creation coexist.
By Kamy
A dialogue between contemporary art, design, and material transformation.
In 2022, Natali de Paula was invited by By Kamy, one of Brazil's leading names in contemporary rugs and design, to develop an artistic intervention on rugs that had reached the end of their commercial lifecycle. The project reimagined these textile pieces as unique works of art through the language of contemporary painting.
Each intervention preserves the textile identity of the original piece while incorporating the artist's distinctive visual language. Color, gesture, and composition establish a dialogue between art and design, allowing the material's memory to remain present while giving rise to new interpretations.
More than a collaboration between artist and brand, the project represents a natural extension of Natali de Paula's ongoing material research. By transforming existing objects without erasing their history, the artist reinforces her interest in materiality, memory, and the expressive possibilities of contemporary painting.
