Carl Kostyál is delighted to present ‘Ghost Ballade’, the fourth solo exhibition of Spanish artist Marria Pratts (b. 1988 in Barcelona) with Carl Kostyál and the artist’s solo debut in Sweden at Hospitalet, Stockholm.
“Marria’s paintings occupy that space between untamed and energetic abstraction that presents itself, and hieroglyphs that evoke childlike figurative representations, reminiscent of humanity’s earliest symbolic expressions found in cave interiors: the primordial urge to create.
Her work shows a vitalistic creative process marked by playfulness and emotional tension, revealing an honest, intimate relationship with her art, and demonstrating the inseparable connection between art and life. It is not surprising that, after navigating the labyrinthine, beautiful, and terrifying journey of motherhood, her work takes on the tone of a passionate confessional diary. This invites us to consider ways of mothering that are alien (or even opposed) to the norms and expectations set —consciously and as a control strategy— by institutionalised heteropatriarchal society.
The materiality of Marria’s paintings—with their layered textures, scratches, and drips— seems to narrate here the origin of the world from her subjective viewpoint. It speaks of her personal Big Bang, of the concentric circles of attraction and repulsion generated by the act of co-parenting and accompanying a loved one in the gestation process and nurturing from a place devoid of referents and visibility. The organic, the viscous, the blood, the milk, the viscera, the womb that welcomes, the feeding apple, the sleep deprivation—not just hours of sleep, but also space to dream—the counting of hours, the smiling faces, and the ghosts—which are now three— all now appear in her canvases. Marria seems more in tune than ever with earthy forces, influenced by a new relationship with the body and biology, questioning the singularity of self when three beings are intertwined.
These recent works interact with contemporary feminist narratives exploring procreation and care from a first-person perspective, embracing the vulnerability, drama, strangeness, and contradictions inherent in motherhood. They reveal the ambiguity and complexity of a condition consistently idealised and simplified. The profound physical, psychological, spiritual, and social changes experienced during early motherhood—the so called matrescence—represent one of the most rapid and radical human transformations. It’s surprising how little social recognition and support mothers receive, especially considering that every human being comes from one. The universal nature of reproduction, our species’ reliance on it, and the benefits that liberal capitalism gains from it don’t match the social devaluation faced by those who bear and care for children.
For many, the initial months of motherhood feel like a sojourn in a dark cave, a period of nesting and isolation, where one sees only shadows and encounters gods and monsters. It is a cosmos of imagined underworlds, where the best and worst coexist. Yet, this time can also foster a newfound sense of universal connection, of intergenerational bonds through shared maternal experiences, even with absent, longed-for mother: a confirmation that the most intimate is also the most common. The studio becomes Marria’s cave, a portal to the unknown, where painting serves as a cathartic ritual for subterranean emotions. Her practice exemplifies humanity’s need to self-represent, transcending formal aspects to enter realms of magical-religious, political, and domestic significance, where the sacred meets the mundane, and daily life is a trance of exhaustion and balance.
Existential experiences can resemble labyrinths, non-linear structures where familiar reference points are lost. These labyrinths are not seen as traps or riddles for solving but networks of interdependent spaces and situations, where the journey matters as much as, or more than, the final resolution. The paths are sometimes unpredictable, shaped by personal decisions, interpretations, courage, pleasure, tenderness, and love, despite the uncertainties and fears of the unknown and of much-needed failure.
These paintings reaffirm Marria’s creative commitment to the profound impact of a child’s arrival, which disrupts and integrates the domestic and caregiving aspects into all dimensions of the mother’s life. They express infatuation, ecstasy and tenderness, but also anxiety, fear, and exhaustion. They celebrate the powerful female body and, out of fascination, pay homage to her life partner, Alba, and are a love letter to her son, Claus.
Because, as Marria states, the idea is “ser mares juntes, florir juntes” because “ens han canviat de lloc.” And in view of this forever-changed state—a blend of spiritual growth, overwhelming love, and transformation—we call for inventing new ways of mothering and embracing the magical chaos of this experience.”
– Maite Muñoz Iglesias, 2025
Marria Pratts, ‘Ghost Ballade’, Press Release
Marria Pratts (born 1988 in Barcelona, Spain) lives and works in Barcelona. Despite her relatively young career, she has already held notable solo and group exhibitions in various galleries and institutions. Despite her relatively young career, she has exhibited her work in notable solo and group exhibitions at significant institutions. Her solo exhibitions include ‘1 Possessió Drift’ at Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona (2022), and ‘1 Sardana, 3 Ghosts at the Hall of Mirrors’, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona (2023). She has also participated in group exhibitions such as ‘Apunts per un incendi dels ulls’ at MACBA, Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona (2021–2022), and ‘PUNK. Sus rastros en el arte contemporáneo’ at Centro de Arte Dos de Mayo, Madrid; MACBA, and Artium, Vitoria (2015–2016).
In June 2025, Pratts will feature as the only Spanish painter in the group exhibition ‘Upside Down Zebra’ at The Watermill Center, New York. Participating artists include Terry Winters, Darren Bader, Katharine Bernhardt, Walter Price and Christopher Wool.