JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present, Unframed, an exhibition of both new and retrospective work rooted in America Martin’s investigation of the human experience. Featuring a selection of unframed pieces, Unframed explores both the literal boundaries and conceptual confines that Martin’s practice defies. Bursting with life, form, and color, Martin seeks to expand upon themes of self-exploration and transcending limitations. From paintings that inherently do not require framing, to works on paper that have not yet been framed, this exhibition invites the viewer to engage with Martin’s art in an organic, visceral way.

Prioritizing the figure as a central focal point throughout her career, Martin’s imagery is allegorical, familiar, and above all, hopeful. Exhilaratingly fluid and densely rich, the works examine the principles of figuration, portraiture, and the body’s environments. Optimistic in her strokes, omnipresent throughout the narrative, and original in her inspirations, Martin reimagines her preferred subjects of reclined women amidst nature and performing musicians. Maintaining her signature bold line and massive, solid figures across a variety of mediums, Martin’s emotive marks are an assimilation of light, pigment, movement, and an incomparable emphasis on storytelling.

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. New modes of expression emerge from continued internal and formal investigations, informed and characterized by Martin’s Colombian heritage with a focus on the anecdotal and symbolic.

AMERICA MARTIN (b. 1980, Los Angeles, CA) is a Colombian American fine artist based in Los Angeles, CA.