Letting emotion and memory guide the brush
This week, we welcome Martine Kasmin, an abstract painter based in the New York area. From a young age, she knew that making art was the key to her happiness and her greatest means of self-expression. She has memories as far back as the age of four of spending hours drawing, painting, and collaging pictures that she loved to share with her family and friends.
“I choose to paint abstractly because abstract art requires the viewer to spend time with it, to interpret it. To decipher and unravel the forms that they see,” said Kasmin. “I am passionate about bringing abstract images to their fruition through a magical alchemy that occurs when putting paint on canvas.”
Kasmin grew up just outside of New York City and would often coerce her parents into taking her to New York City museums and galleries to see the work of her favorite artists. During a birthday trip to the Museum of Modern Art when she turned 12, she saw Picasso’s and O’Keefe’s paintings up close for the first time. Kasmin never forgot that magical day. She went on to study at The School of Visual Arts on a full-tuition merit scholarship. While there, she felt drawn towards abstract expressionism and began to paint intuitively, letting her emotions and subconscious thoughts guide her work.
“When I am painting, I am thinking about making beautiful and unique marks. Marks that we all leave on the world, yet often try to erase. Instead of hiding these marks, my work celebrates them! In our highly tech driven world, my paintings celebrate the imprints we all leave on this world,” she said.
“The marks in my artwork are infused with memories and passionate responses to being a mother, a friend, a citizen, and to nature. My work seeks to create exciting shapes, color relationships and linear qualities that react and respond powerfully to each other,” Kasmin continued.
