above: The dining room becomes an intimate cove beside the grandeur of the entry’s stairway. Yet it gathers its own gravitas from the limestone-tiled wall that flows from the entry. The homeowner’s equestrian passion is seen in a bronze equine sculpture set between Holly Hunt’s bronze “Bell Pepper” lamps. Women on Beach by artist America Martin provides an artistic focal point

JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present, Connecting the Dots, an exhibition featuring new works by America Martin. Referencing Paul Klee’s statement that, “A line is a dot that went for a walk,” the title serves as a fitting descriptor of Martin’s adept and exuberant use of line. Employing smooth, bold curves as well as hard, geometric strokes, she adheres to the most fundamental aspect of drawing - the line - to tell a story, connecting compositional elements and personal narratives throughout her practice.

We look back at excerpts from our conversations that highlight Martin’s studio practice, process, and the continuing inspiration for her most recent body of work.

It’s these sort of everyday Genre scenes that make up most of Martin’s oeuvre and justify her self-given title of “painting anthropologist,” but she has a way of romanticizing the quotidian in a way that make these moments feel monumental. While men and still life images certainly find their fair share of the limelight in her work, many of her larger-than-life paintings feature another form found throughout art history – the nude female figure. “I’m doing what art has been doing forever,” Martin says with satisfaction, “though I’m able to have more real estate – when I say “real estate,” I mean, scope of joy and confidence in the way that I portray women – because I am a woman.”

JA: Do your paintings have autobiographical elements to the narrative? Is this a reason for reoccurring themes throughout your body of work?

MARTIN: Everything is autobiographical. We are living biographies. Artists are just outside the lines about it. There are reoccurring themes, images and subject matters that I return to. These repeating images are at this point still partially responsible for the pleasure, comfort and joy I find when making a new work. For example, say when I clean the house as a rule I listen to very loud Beethoven or Billy Joel. When I paint a women resting in nature I put a small snail or a bird near her, because these are the things that draw my attention and make a moment tender. These themes repeat themselves and tend to go on with a series, until I begin finding interest in a new notion.

Im so thrilled to have been able to work with you these last 10 years JoAnne. My they have gone by fast. But my dear JoAnne, Tayler and Erin, your support and belief through this particular junction of great action and change, will always be very poignant and special to me. It is fun to see new and old work side by side. For myself, I do not have favorite works. My favorite piece in the groovy hum that I will be looking for during the process of painting or sculpting the piece I haven’t made yet. But when I look at my older work, I remember doing each piece as if it was yesterday. Although I no longer work in the same way that I did then. It is interesting to see the choices, the ways of controlling space, line and color the way I did then, next to what I do now. What a great way to start off the year. Yip Yip!

The exhibition showcases the fearless, bold use of line and color through the compositions of the artist with a profound sense of form and space. The work of America Martin with these figurative paintings transcends cultural aesthetics as it emerges through the internalized gender aesthetics.

A recent trip to the Art New York art fair during Frieze week culminated in a meeting with gallery director JoAnne Artman of JoAnne Artman Gallery. Originally based on the west coast, Ms. Artman has recently opened a space in Chelsea. We were fortunate to be given the chance to collaborate with the Frames and Stretchers team on a project for her.

Colombian-American artist America Martin continues her exploration of humanist themes through figurative abstraction and powerful, raw elements of color and line. Scenes of everyday life that link the body to the continuity of nature permeate her work, portrayed through both the human form as well as the classic still life.

Bursting with life, vigorous in line, form and color, America Martin’s work showcases her unique and humanist approach to portraying the natural world as well as the human form. Constantly re-defining her artistic practice and the possibilities of expression, Martin’s work is both visionary and diverse in its approach. Martin works in a diversity of mediums including painting, mixed media on cotton rag paper, and sculpture. Beyond her affinity for modernism and iconic forms, Martin’s work is informed by her intensive approach to material and process. Rooted in art historical lexicon, Martin’s work is narrative of the various cultural, anthropological as well as sociocultural frameworks inherent in her subject matter.

America Martin’s new show explores the themes and subjects dear to the artist’s heart including reclining female nudes and musicians at work.

Her hometown of Los Angeles, and the vibrant diversity of its population, moves her. When about town, she takes mental snapshots of the people she sees all around her, and then transfers the sights stored in her head onto paper and canvas.

America Martin lives and breathes art. Painter, sculptor, photographer, printmaker and accomplished writer, when she is not making art, she reads about it and — with infectious joy-talks about it. It all started with a discarded book about Vincent Van Gogh, tossed among the wire hangers and outgrown roller skates at a neighborhood garage sale. With only a quarter to spend the teen settled on the book and fell in love.