Marina (2018) Painting by Mariana San Martin

Observing, interpreting and wondering about people in general was always something that I liked doing. I often question myself about what it takes to build a human being and found in my work with art a way to study and develop ideas in that matter. Looking at my own experiences, realising that the many small and big choices I made in my life are the “thing” that built me into what I am today just as much as simple chance did, made me start to think a lot about impermanence and interference. How much of what we are is by our intent and how much is just what the environment presents us with? Where is the limit between our inside and outside worlds — if a limit even exists — and how do these worlds interfere with each other and change one another? Along with those thoughts comes the idea of an ever-changing reality, an infinite overlapping existence where we become ourselves every second at the same time we let that self go to become something else. If we change with the interferences we suffer, the way we perceive the world changes too, and reality becomes a cycle of perceptions that evolve in their own interferences.
I translate these thoughts in my work by allowing experimentation to have a big part in my practice. Each piece ends up being a cycle of action and reaction that evolves with each layer added. Free-flowing paint, graphite markings, scraping, tearing, exploring textures, watching different materials react and any other technique that comes to mind create a conversation between intent and chance that can go on until it’s impossible to tell which is which.

Related themes

PortraitPaintingTornDrawignFigurative Art