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It’s three days before the opening of **Natasha Law’**s solo exhibit at the MaxMara boutique in Beverly Hills and there’s still plenty of work to be done. Paintings rest against walls and—more precariously—furniture. A lightbox illuminating one of the artist’s signature female nudes against a glossy emerald background stands ready to be dismantled should Law determine another coat of paint is in order. Then, there’s the matter of several unframed canvases, which the MaxMara team only decided to include last minute and thus require ad-hoc hanging devices (i.e. industrial-size metal clips). “Originally they wanted fewer pieces,” says Law, her lively green eyes recalling those of her famous younger brother, Jude. “But when they opened them up, I think they really fell in love with them.”
With a growing legion of admirers that includes Gwyneth Paltrow and Maria Giulia Maramotti, falling in love with Law’s aesthetic seems to be par for the course these days, especially, it would seem, for women. Perhaps that’s because, despite her works’ erotic capacity (the subjects are almost exclusively female nudes and partial nudes) the intimacy they convey feels more akin to sisterly warmth than carnal heat. “It’s become really important for me that I work with my friends as models, as the resonance of that affection and relationship is hopefully there,” says Law. “There is some quality of real, everyday female ‘whatness’ that I don’t get tired of exploring.”
The MaxMara exhibit marks the second collaboration between the London-based artist and the Italian design house within the space of a year. The first, which was entitled “The Female Form,” was hosted in part by Vogue and took place last April at New York’s Bartolami Gallery. “We all got on so well and the idea of putting on a show out here just kind of grew,” says Law, who worked on both shows with Manhattan gallerist Blair Voltz Clarke.
The new exhibit, “Inside Out,” focuses on women in various stages of undress—shimmying out of undergarments, elbows and knees coyly splayed. “I like the slightly ungainly moments of undressing where you’ve got the vest pulled over you and you’re sort of headless,” says Law. As per the labor-intensive process she’s honed since the late 90s, Law transposes line drawings of her sitters onto paper or aluminum panels, saturating certain shapes with layers of thick house paint until the human figures border on abstraction. The end result bears a Pop Art slant, which Law notes is in keeping with MaxMara’s spring collection. “There’s a lot of little 1960s references here,” she says, nodding to a Sportmax sheath emblazoned with bold chevrons.
Ultimately, Law plans to make the most of her brief L.A. jaunt, perhaps even taking in a few museums exhibits (something she rarely has time for in London amid a bustling home life with her partner, screenwriter Fintan Ryan, and their three young children). “I woke up this morning to a misty view of palm tree tops,” she says. “It’s snowing back in England. You forget there’s anywhere warm in the rest of the world.”
“Inside Out” will be on view at the MaxMara store in Beverly Hills through May 1; maxmara.com. Works are available through voltzclarke.com. A portion of the proceeds from any items sold at the MaxMara store during tonight’s opening, and any of the works sold through the end of the exhibition (May 1) will go to benefit the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.