JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present SEEING AMERICA, a solo exhibition from America Martin, June 7 – August 14, 2025
Employing paper, canvas, and linen mediums, Martin’s recent works borrow inspiration from classical visual tropes such as bathers, reclined figures, and nudes. Paying homage to but ultimately departing from traditional portraiture, Martin’s reductions of the human body retain their most basic formal qualities, while torsos, arms and feet are transformed into a geometric terrain.
“I fell in love with Vincent Van Gogh when I was 9. I bought a book of his work at a yard sale. Before that, I had not really been introduced to fine art. That was the ‘Dorothy’ moment for me; all of a sudden, I literally saw the world around me in color in a way that I could touch. It was as if seeing his drawings of the everyday items around him gave me permission to draw my own world- to translate what I saw and felt into a langue I could share.”
Through radical forms and an unmistakable aesthetic sensibility, Martin experiments with line weight and function as a tool for two-dimensional representation of three-dimensionality. Creating a new balance between solidity, mass, and suggestion, thick lines are filled with the bubbling energy of thin, long scrapes throughout their length – adding both intensity and depth. While Martin similarly continuously challenges her utilization of color and line, her relationship with each feels personal. Often the palette feels like a mood: gentle and soothing, or strong and bold, the colors imbuing the works with a fuller spectrum of meaning.
“This art love affair has nothing to do with me personally – I often feel like am like a florist – I gather and put together images and colors – tied together with line.”
AMERICA MARTIN (b. 1980, Los Angeles, CA) is a Colombian-American artist; Martin splits her time between Los Angeles, CA, Flagstaff, AZ, and Maine.
www.joanneartmangallery.com
