JUSTIN NATIVIDAD
Justin Natividad was born in Texas, and raised between Texas and Florida. He attended Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, where he studied Painting. Over the years, Natividad has exhibited works in group shows, including, most recently, at VillageOneArt in New York and Mana Contemporary in New Jersey. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
A solo exhibition of the artist’s work appeared at Village One Art in New York in 2022 and 2024
Playing with one of the oldest artistic expressions, Justin is centered on what the male muse and nude is today. Taking cues from social media and gay pop culture, Justin focuses on the contemporary male-on-male gaze, exploring the liminal space the male nude occupies, and subverts its erotic nature by focusing back onto the classical paragons of male beauty while recontextualizing his source material into a fine art context. With a modest scale Justin engages the viewer and draws them inward, inviting them to inhabit the same space as his subjects. Intimate moments of delicate self reflection are depicted through tight crops, ambient light, luster, saturated tones and monochromatic environments. Shifting the focus of his source material Justin creates paintings that read like a lingering memory: sensual and distant.
