Ruth Marten
"#42", 2024
Gouache on antique photogravure
Unframed: 10 x 7.5 inches (25.4 x 19.1 cm)
Framed: 19 x 16 x ⅝ inches (48.3 x 40.6 x 1.6 cm)
Courtesy of the Artist

Selected by Alexander Gorlizki 

Ruth Marten (b 1949, New York City, NY) lives and works in New York. She has been an important figure in the tattoo underground and, as one of the few women practicing the craft, influenced people’s ideas about body decoration, championing what came to be called Neo-Tribalism. Since 1989 Marten has expressed herself exclusively through drawings, paintings and sculptures, exploring the phenomenon of hair for its sexual, cultural and purely textual content. 

Marten’s work has been shown in a number of significant exhibitions, including: “All About Eve”, Kunstmuseum Villa Zander, Gladbach, Germany (2024); “Pixerina Witcherina”,  Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Woodstock, NY (2024); “The Schuh Show” (2022) and  “The Moon’s Mirror” (2021), van der Grinten Galerie, Cologne, Germany. Moreover, she also had exhibitions at the National Arts Club, NYC (2024) and at Art Cologne (2021), and published several artist’s books such as  “My 20th century" (2019), “Ruth Marten-Dream Lover” (2018), and “Fountains & Alligators” (2016).