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.

Martin’s desire to capture the essence of humanity and nature is central to her engaging work. To underscore how important it is, she refers to herself as a painting anthropologist. Nevertheless, she deals with the same problems that have obsessed painters throughout time—arresting movement, exploring the expressive potential of human form, and arranging bodies in space in novel ways.

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

Wally Workman Gallery presents America Martin: "Under the Sky”, the ninth show with renowned Los Angeles-based painter America Martin. Martin is inspired by form and figure as depicted by the Impressionists and Modernists of the early 20th century.

These artists’ works 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.

This show is an amalgam of America's Colombian roots and the inspiration she finds in her reading and her travels. She pulls from the stylistic lessons of the classics and its derivations in indigenous subject matter, while redefining what it is to combine abstract and indigenous motifs.

Emphasizing narration and the tales that emerge through gesture and contour, America Martin’s compositions always conjure a captivating story.

America Martin : Timeless NOVEMBER 2020 at the J. Willott Gallery

America’s embrace of the influence of art history acknowledges a wide range of artistic influence, including that of Matisse, Picasso, Leger and Chagall, but in emotional reach and painterly vocabulary are very much rooted in contemporary life. One cannot help but recognize the way she rapidly sets herself apart from her peers and propels beauty, vulnerability, refinement and poetry into our world with astonishing precision and force.

Taking inspiration from Mid-Century Modernist masters, America’s distinctive style is underscored by the use of boldly brushed lines and punctuated bursts of color to imply tone and mood. She treats her subjects with an obvious reverence, and in a manner that captures their individuality and their dignity.

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.

Using smooth, bold curves as well as hard, geometric strokes, America Martin adheres to the most fundamental aspect of drawing…

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.

“The idea of being present and really looking at a vista - a tree, a rock even, and seeing it change throughout a day was amazing,” she said about her plein air work around Chama last July.

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!