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.