Biography

Marti Gutfreund is a multidisciplinary artist born in Alberta, Canada. From an early age, Gutfreund has had an affinity for the natural world and spent much her younger life exploring, and learning about the flora and fauna bordering her childhood home. This upbringing fostered a deep fascination with nature that continues to have an impact on her work today. Gutfreund received a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree from the University of Alberta in 2016.
After graduating, Gutfreund explored photography for several years, achieving international recognition including articles in major media outlets, a Netflix documentary feature, and a published book. Simultaneously, she continued growing the online rock and mineral shop she had started during university. At this point, making art had fallen out of Gutfreund's life, and remained that way for 7 years. During this time, Gutfreund progressively struggled with depression and severe anxiety, and found difficulty in continuing to live her life as it was. She mourned the loss of her creative past, and suspected a possibility that it could aid in re-discovering a sense of purpose. With renewed passion, Gutfreund has been working from her Alberta based studio since late 2023.

Escaping the monotonous and melancholy perceptions of the every day can be exceedingly difficult when ensnared by the grey stare of urban life. Despite our bustling cities, and web of interconnected online networks, there is an inherent loneliness in today’s existence. Stress, anxiety, depression; these feelings become seemingly inevitable as we continue isolating ourselves from any meaningful connection to our surroundings. Humanity is a part of nature as much as the whales and worms, yet somewhere in our evolutionary path, we have regressed to a state of being that lacks harmony. Surrounded by concrete blocks and glowing screens, with an unwavering pressure to work more and sleep less, the soul yearns for that primordial connection.

In an attempt to reconcile with her anxieties, Gutfreund’s work presents the formulation of an intoxicating place that is reminiscent of the wild and boundless realms within dreams and nightmares; an untamed macrocosm that is welcoming, bewitching, and disturbing. Touches of unsettling strangeness are included throughout Gutfreund's work, as a recognition of the human condition and its duality. Like a mirror to our own psyche, these worlds can be as sorrowful, disturbed, and absurd as they are beautiful. The imagery often creates a sense of tension or discomfort, forcing viewers into a space that is both enticing and uncannily off putting. Gutfreund looks at nature as her main visual source when constructing the elements in her works. It is an invitation to relish in the complex forms and textures we often see in the flora and fauna around us. Viewers are met with characters that bear a certain resemblance to life forms found here on earth, evoking a sense of familiarity within an unfamiliar environment. Narratives between the characters within her works are palpable, and tend to stretch on throughout a series of several pieces and mediums.

Formally, Gutfreund adds an abundance of details and textures so that viewers may get lost in the painstaking intricacies of the pieces. Gemstones, hair, insects, glitter, found objects, and other unconventional materials find their way into her work, cohesively adding to the visual complexity of the imagery through trompe-l’oeil techniques. Elements of kitsch have a strong presence within Gutfreund's work. She maintains an ongoing exploration of visual language and materials, whose value have often been questioned in the sphere of fine art institutions.