Original artwork, 2023

acrylic on canvas
119.2x97.3cm

framed in whitewashed oak

Available at Crate Expectations, Malvern.

Sweeping multicoloured brushstrokes, hazes of spray and smatterings of confetti-like paint break across the surface of these dynamic works to culminate in Rowena Martinich’s latest solo exhibition, Summer Electra. Imbued with the memory and experience of the artist these paintings embody multitudes of smaller details which unfold and reveal themselves upon deeper inspection.

Immersive and exuding energy, with Summer Electra, Martinich clearly demonstrates her expertise as an abstract painter, achieving a delicate yet confident body of works that explores the intersections between where a stroke begins and where it ends.

Colours mix on the canvas as they pass over each other, softly or abruptly overlapping and wiping back to reveal integral sections of the painting beneath.

Washes of watery colour liquefy and splash, track and play amidst and across the giant all-encompassing gestures.

Combining softness with liveliness and striking a balance between space, gesture, line, composition, muted hues and a luminously bright palette; these paintings occupy the space between the personal and the creative.

They express what cannot be written or spoken but which resides indomitably in the artist. Process-based, the works embody elements that unfold in life outside the studio.

Hence, the exhibition is named after the artist’s daughter, Summer Electra, yet they are also platforms for the audience in which to create their own stories, craft their own dialogues; space to evoke their own abstract reflections and emotional response.

Atlas