May 16 – June 30, 2018
Curated by Elena Mencarelli
In life, there are few moments of lucidity during which we’re able to linger on the flow of our existence. What is it that drives us? What brings us joy? For what do we struggle? In those moments we feel uncertain, we leave “the path” for an instant and start wandering around with our gaze as we’re suspended in time and space. We start questioning. Le Corbusier, an artist who pioneered architecture and design of the 1900s, used to say: “Life never stops. The torment of men will be eternal, unless the functions of creating and acting and changing, living intensely through each day, be considered an eternal joy.”
For her first solo exhibition at the Red Poppy Art House, Fernanda Martínez presents Suspended, a story of contemplation and revelation. Inspired by nature, the artist reveals patterns and colors belonging to a slow dimension, visible only through contemplation. Suspended is a celebration of life, of authenticity, of the present moment; it shows the beauty of process.
A flower, for example, displays its whole developing process with sincerity, remaining perfect in its mutations when its body opens up, its color ripens, and its petals soften until falling, without waiting to be stopped. Nature, differently from men, respects the importance of process, slowness, and spontaneity. Birth, growth, maturity, death—these are the functions of creating, acting, and changing as mentioned by Le Corbusier. They are inevitable and an art themselves.
The Red Poppy Art House hosts Martínez’s project, conceived just for the space, that captures moments of suspended beauty—a visual translation of the very unique moments that are often possible only in this venue. Her artwork does not add anything that nature and life do not possess already. Everything is already here, around us, suspended in its imperfect and ephemeral grace.
OPENING RECEPTION: Saturday, June 2 @ 5:00pm
Fernanda Martínez’s art is best recognized for its highly expressive spirit and its fascinating colors and contrasts. Through her work, she explores the relation with the environment by incorporating nature elements as themes and abstract shapes that reaffirm her appeal for flowers and plants. Her artwork highlights a free character with a marked emphasis for colorful patterns, using gouache and acrylic as mediums.
Martínez is a self-taught Mexican artist based in Oakland, California. She graduated in communications and moved to California where she created La Tinta, her personal brand. La Tinta’s original art and products can be found in local Bay Area stores and select online platforms.
Elena Mencarelli moved to San Francisco after concluding her Master Degree in Visual Arts at the University of Bologna, Italy. Previously, she was the artistic director of the Make Your Mark Art Gallery in Melbourne, Australia. In addition to her artistic practice and curatorial background, she is also engaged in art criticism. Elena is the co-writer of the catalogue of the double exhibition Maria Rebecca Ballestra – Alan Sonfist, a better landscape (Unimedia Modern Contemporary Art, Genova, Italy) and is the author of Maria Rebecca Ballestra, a phenomenology of posthumanism, soon to be published in both Italian and English.