Rowena Martinich

Creating vast, dynamic explorations of colour is abstract expressionist Rowena Martinich’s forte. Martinich has carved out her position in the art world, spanning the realms of public art, painting installations, permanent and temporary interventions, murals within streetscapes, awe inspiring architectural applications and powerful compositions on canvas. Martinich’s artwork has been sort after by major clients such as Nike, Facebook, Mecca Cosmetica, Mirvac, Bombay Sapphire, The National Gallery of Victoria and Dulux as well Australia’s leading architects and interior designers to create bespoke immersive art experiences in both domestic and commercial environments.

Martinich’s public art career began with a series of ambitious murals painted on the glass facades of public buildings including a five story window installation at RMIT University, followed by an overpass, bathing its audience in radiant colour on their journey to and from the Dandenong train station. Creating landmark works that change how the public engage with their environment on a visual level inspires Martinich and has lead her to travel to create major public works in France, Italy, Turkey, China, the United Kingdom and the United States. Closer to home her work has transformed small regional towns, where the integration of her contemporary art has a significant community outcome.

Rowena Martinich continues to push the boundaries within the public and private art sectors, transforming once ordinary spaces into luscious colour-scapes. In the studio she is driven by process. Her paintings are constantly shifting and evolving, building on each other to reflect a particular interest in the technical capacity of paint, each particular body of work displaying a curiosity in the application of fluid layers. Informed by years of painting experience Martinich works intuitively to create seemingly spontaneous and playful yet balanced compositions; rich in luminous colour and gesture. This studio practice directly informs Martinich’s work in the public realm – scale being the shifting factor. For her, moving beyond the private interior of the artist’s studio, to connect with others though her practice is where her work functions on its highest level.