Joanna Martin – Embryonic Landscapes
6th January to 26th February 2010
Open eves 6th January and 3rd February 2010 7-9pm
Joanna uses oil paints, varnish and resin lacquer on aluminium sheet, to build up layers of abstract space and floating organic forms. She evokes a sense of familiarity and at the same time otherworldliness. This exhibition explores the confusion of scale, taking inspiration from embryonic images and human anatomy.
Joanna mixes abstraction and figuration plus a suggestion of landscape viewed from above, these notions are only suggested at as the element of mystery is important to the work. The images are mainly derived from a merging of satellite and microscopic photography, searching for common patterns within nature.
Process is crucial to the work. The use of aluminium has increased the shine and reflective qualities of the paint as well as made its physical thickness and texture more apparent. The surface is formed by pouring the liquid paint, it then separates forming rivulets and drips that slide off the smooth metal. This helps to shape the composition, giving depth to the flatness. The lines and forms are then built up in layers. It is important that the paintings have their own gravity and no obvious beginning or end. The behaviour of the paint determines the outcome, and appears to remain fluid, wet and still forming. The process is an act of discovery and the result never preconceived.
Joanna graduated from Winchester School of Art where she obtained a BA (Hons) in Fine Art in 2007. Since finishing her degree she has been working as an assistant to Rebecca Newnham a glass mosaic sculptor based in Dorset before moving to Kent. She has recently taken part in Art @ Plush 4, a group exhibition in Dorset, and exhibited in the Stroud House Gallery.