Paris-Born Martine Jardel received an MFA from the San Francisco State University. She lived and worked in Yemen, Columbia, Burma and Canada before settling in California, where now she paints and resides.
"My space paintings show a process of sedimentation. Thin layers of paint let the light seep out from within the painting. The effect of color transparencies, light and dark, help create a mood or an atmospheric quality which enhances the reading of marks, lines and colors as loose depictions of elements in nature.
Recurrent shapes: Tree or body? Sky or water? Ultimately they are but traces, remnants of images with no fixed identity. I like to see my paintings as spaces of ambiguity inviting the viewer to a patient contemplation.
The series, "Morceaux d'Espaces," consists of assemblages of small oil paintings. This process of juxtaposing canvasses which have been painted individually often weeks apart facilitates the questioning and playing with the conventional pictorial sign systems. It disrupts any intentional symbolism and at times the illusion of space's depth becomes a desorienting force, ultimately painting is a dialogue with color."
-Martine Jardel
"Although striking and sensual on your computer screen, Martine's work has a depth and luminance that can not be translated into the flat media of the web. In reality they draw you into layers and layers of subtle shape and shadow, which are constantly moving with any shift of light or angle, and need to be seen in person to be fully appreciated."
-A. DiPadova
Publications
American Art Collector (March 2004)
Art of Northern California (January 2003)
Article in the French newspaper, Centre Presse (April 26, 2003)
