JoAnne Artman Gallery, Presents:
“THE NEW FIGURATIVE” Featuring America Martin
Winter/Spring 2018
Artist’s Reception: Thursday, February 8th, 2018 from 6pm-8pm
Please RSVP: 949.510.5481 by February 3rd, 2018

JoAnne Artman Gallery
511A West 22nd St. | New York, NY 10011
Contact:  JoAnne Artman
Telephone:  949-510-5481 | E-mail: [email protected]
Website: www.joanneartmangallery.com

THE NEW FIGURATIVE

America Martin’s compositions of poetic juxtapositions conjure a story, with the figure as a central focal point for much of the framework. Strikingly bold, the expressive lines of Martin’s work are an assimilation of light, color, movement and form with a unique emphasis on the narrative. The imagery is familiar and transportive, steeped in personal mythology and deeply allegorical.  JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present a new body of work rooted in Martin’s unique approach in exploring the human form and its context.

New York Figurative Expressionism of the 1950’s laid much of the groundwork for the re-introduction of figurative painting as a predominant mode of expression. On the heels of the pure abstraction school of thought headed by Hans Hoffman, as well as the process of gestural abstraction, came a re-emergence of figurative painters. Like the still life genre in early modernism, the figure proved to be fertile ground for exploring the teachings of expressionism through color relationships, pictorial structure and spatial illusion. Martin’s work speaks to this legacy of utilizing the body’s formal qualities as attuned elements of precision and control, in other words a vehicle, for more visceral aspects of her artistic practice.

By turns exhilaratingly fluid and densely rich, the works explore the framework of figuration, portraiture, as well as the body’s environments. New modes of expression emerge from continued internal and formal investigations, informed as well as characterized by Martin’s Colombian heritage with a focus on form, narrative and the symbolic.

AMERICA MARTIN (b. 1980, Los Angeles, CA) is a Colombian American fine artist based in Los Angeles, CA.
America Martin’s work will inspire, provoke, engage and mesmerize. With visual perceptions always changing, peek behind the stories told and you’re sure to find the right artistic expression!