Martine Johanna

Lives and works in Zetten, NL

Martine Johanna is an artist known for her vivid paintings with both figurative and abstract elements. Her autobiographical works, seemingly lighthearted, explore the duality between youthful naivety and anxiety-riddled adulthood. The figures, fierce but fragile, crowd the compositions and occupy the majority of the space gazing distractedly into the beyond. Each of Johanna’s delicately rendered figures convey a sense of immersion within their own “internal psychic landscape.” The work is imbued with a mysterious narrative and sensation of knowing that each character in the work has a full and complex history that the viewer can never completely comprehend. The paintings have a signature prismatic palette, visually stimulating and playful while expressing an underlying sense of uncertainty and unrest. 

Martine Johanna studied at ArtEZ the Academy of Fine Arts in Arnhem, Netherlands, where she completed both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. In 2024, she will participate in the prestigious Mack Art Foundation Artist in Residency program in Brooklyn, NY. Johanna has exhibited internationally, including exhibitions at galleries in Amsterdam, San Francisco, New York, Aalborg, Los Angeles, and San Diego, and has participated in exhibitions at cultural institutions including the Mesa Arts Museum in Arizona and Collectie de Groen in Arnhem.

Johanna has been featured in numerous publications including INTERLOCUTOR Magazine (and podcast), the Art Affairs podcast, My Modern Met, Collateral Magazine,Metal Magazine, The Jaunt, Juxtapoz, Create!, Contemporary Art Curator Magazine, and Booooooom. The artist currently lives and works in Zetten, Netherlands.