Martine Johanna
Martine Johanna's work is largely autobiographical. Using color, form, and composition as language, she investigates the role of women within a patriarchal culture, beauty, adolescence, oppression, inner worlds and dualism are themes recurring in her wordless communication with both figurative and abstract elements.
Seemingly light hearted, it explores the duality between youthful naivety and anxiety-riddled adulthood. The often female figures, fierce but fragile, gazing distractedly into the beyond within their own “internal psychic landscape.” The work is imbued with a mysterious narrative and sensation of knowing that each character in the work has a full and complex history that the viewer can never fully comprehend. The paintings have a signature prismatic palette, visually stimulating and playful while expressing an underlying sense of uncertainty and unrest. Martine Johanna has had international success exhibiting extensively in the Netherlands and abroad. A background in fashion design has influenced her depiction and ease with the female figure. Inspiration for her work include a mixture of childhood and autobiographical memories and experiences, documentaries on human nature, independent films and history.
