America Martin “This Is America”

JoAnne Artman Gallery

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Raw textures and polished forms the familiar made new again through approach and context the new visionary. In breadth and scope the exhibition represents the current stage of Martin’s artistic practice an exploration of structure, form and medium with a focus on the human figure. Martin functions as both artist and anthropologist, as people are her dominant subject: she poignantly interprets the human spirit with flair that is all her own. JoAnne Artman Gallery is pleased to present America Martin.

AMERICA MARTIN (b. 1980, Los Angeles, CA) is a ColombianAmerican fine artist based in Los Angeles, California who utilizes the human form as the primary subject in her work. In her figurative paintings she adheres to the most fundamental aspect of drawing the line to tell a story, connecting compositional elements and drawing the figure out of the blocked areas of color. With unapologetic strokes and a bold palette America’s forms hum with the vitality and vigor of the world around her. Martin’s body of work encompasses a variety of mediums ranging from painting to compositions on cotton rag paper, as well as powder coated steel sculpture.

Influences of her Colombian heritage, classicism, and modernist aesthetics both inform and characterize her distinctive style, which is both a humanist investigation and evocation of the relationship between the human form and the natural world. In her work, the figure often exists in harmony with natural elements, intimate in composition with flowers, plants or animals. At other times the figure becomes a vehicle a symbolic icon in an exploration of the scope and potential of the medium. With her constantly evolving mastery of technique, form, and medium, Martin’s work goes beyond the expected.