PRESS
2021 | Hey Baebe Art, “Interview with Susannah Martin“, July 2021
2021 | Podcast Montez, “Endlich Frei - Gespräch mit der Künstlerin Susannah Martin“, Daniel Mouson, Frankfurt, Germany
2021 | Bomann Museum Celle, “Wi(e)der das Böse“, WP Fahrenberg, Exhibition Catalog, October 2021, Germany
2021 | Frankfurter Neue Presse, “Endlich Frei“, Edda Rössler, April, Germany
2021 | Top Magazine Frankfurt, “Kunstverein Familie Montez - Endlich Frei“, Victoria von Ahsen, April 2021, Germany
2021 | Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, “Interview with Susannah Martin - A World to Escape To“, Richard Purssey, Issue 32, March, Australia
2021 | Art Salon, “Interiew with Susannah Martin - The Alienation of Man from Nature“, Felix Brosius, October, Berlin, Germany
2020 | American Art Collector, “Breaking Boundaries“, John O´Hern, March, USA
2019 | Narrative Paths Journal, “Interview with Susannah Martin”, LJ Frank, June
2019 | Helium Talk Podcast – Jörg Heikhaus, “Interview with Susannah Martin”, June, Hamburg, Germany
2019 | Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, “Go Wild“, Didi Menendez, May, Australia
2019 | hr Fernsehen Hauptsache Kultur, “Sex at the City Festival Darmstadt“, May
2019 | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Der Garden Eden als Provokation“, Rainer Hein, April
2019 | SüWo Darmstadt, “Einfach nur Natur – TUD-Kunstforum zeigt Gemälde von Susannah Martin”, March
2019 | Darmstädter Echo, “Natur Pur in satten Farben“, Annette Krämer-Alig, March
2019 | Frankfurter Rundschau, “Der Bruch der Regeln“, Lara Feder, March
2019 | Matilde, “Susannah Martin: Just Nature“, Bettina Bergstedt, March
2019 | Main-Echo, “Mit zarter Wucht, aber Bedacht“, Bettina Kneller, March
2019 | hr2 - Kultur Kunst mit Küchle (Radio), “Just Nature-Susannah Martin“, Tanja Kuechle, March
2019 | Architektur Zeitung, “Ausstellung Just Nature”, February, Austria
2019 | Frankfurter Rundschau, “Darmstadt feiert Sex at the City”, Claudia Kabel, February
2018 | Klassik Magazine, “I am a painter of figurative Realism”, Laura Gomez, August
2018 | Poets and Artists, “Figurative Realism”, December, Chicago, USA
2018 | Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, “Poets and Artists Figurative Realism Exhibition”, December, Armidale, Australia
2018 | American Art Collector, “Breaking Traditions”, November, USA
2018 | Nordika Magazine, “Susannah Martin“, September, Spain
2018 | Klassik International Magazine, “Interview with Susannah Martin”, Laura Gomez, New York, USA
2018 | Poets and Artists Magazine, “Painting the Figure Now-Exhibition Catalog”, Chicago, USA
2018 | Beautiful Bizarre Magazine, “Animation Re-Imagined at Modern Eden”, Armidale, Australia
2017 | Poets and Artists Magazine, 10th Anniversary Issue, USA
2017 | The Guide Artists Magazine, Issue, July, Spain
2017 | POETS/ARTISTS Magazine, The New Nude, Issue 86, USA
2017 | Frankfurter Rundschau, “Eine Stadt voller Kunst – 15 Kunstansichten”, Frank Sommer, Frankfurt, Germany
2017 | Manifest Press, “INPA 6 – International Painting Annual“, Cincinnati, OH, USA
2016 | POETS/ARTISTS Magazine, Figurative Painters 2016, USA
2016 | Empty Kingdom, Interview with Susannah Martin, San Francisco, USA
2016 | Blo Pop Magazine, Interview with Susannah Martin, Los Angeles, USA
2015 | iArtistas Magazine, The Collaboration Issue, Didi Menendez, Goss Publishing, USA
2015 | Lichtenberg Reloaded! Eine Hommage, WP Fahrenberg, Katalog zur Ausstellung, Göttinger Verlag der Kunst, Göttingen, Germany
2015 | POETS/ARTIST Magazine, The Artist´s Gaze Issue, Didi Menendez and Vic Selbach, USA
2015 | American Art Collector, The Artist's Gaze, Seeing Women in the 21st Century, February, USA
2015 | Art in America, Seeing Women in the 21st Century, February, USA
2015 | Manifest Press, International Painting Annual 5 – INPA 5, Cincinnati, USA
2015 | POETS and ARTISTS Magazine, “50 Memorable Painters of 2015”, USA
2014 | Dazed and Confused Magazine, The Female Artists Reclaiming Their Bodies, Peter Yeung, December
2014 | Huffington Post Arts + Culture, A Female Artist Paints Female Nudes Without the Erotic Undertones, Priscilla Frank
2014 | Hi-Fructose Magazine, “Susannah Martin´s Paintings Explore the Idea of Returning to the Wild”, Nastia Voynovskaya, July
2014 | Beautiful Decay, “Susannah Martin´s Contemporary Interpretation of the Classical Nude”, Sara Barnes
2014 | Lo-Burn Magazine, Volume 3, “Interview with Susannah Martin” Lana Gentry, May
2013 | “LICHT FELD 13 - Biennale Basel”, Gallery Licht Feld Exhibition Catalogue, Basel, Switzerland
2013 | “Die Leinwand des Leibes – Körperkult als neue Soziale Plastik” Künstlerverein Walkmühle, Exhibition Catalogue, Wiesbaden, Germany
2013 | Huffington Post Arts & Culture, “10 Memorable Paintings of 2013“ John Seed, Dec. Los Angeles, USA
2013 | “Wo das Übergewicht regiert, ist Schweinernes nicht fern – zur Ausstellung Die Leinwand des Leibes Künstler verein Walkmühle”, Wiesbadener Kurier, Ulrike Brandenburg, June
2013 | POETS/ARTIST Magazine – The Chanticleer Issue Summer 2013, Didi Menendez, Lexington, KY, U.S.A.
2013 | Subtle Tea Magazine, “Interview with Susannah Martin”, David Herrle, USA
2013 | INDA 7- International Drawing Annual, Manifest Press, Cincinnati, OH, USA
2013 | Catapult Magazine, “Susannah Martin” Issue 21, Thena Cartwright, May, USA
2013 | Visual Creativity Special Edition Showcase, “Susannah Martin“, Mark McGough, London, UK
2013 | Unsung Magazine, Winter Edition “Portrait – Susannah Martin”, London, UK
2013 | JUXTAPOZ Magazine, “Susannah Martin's Primordial Tourists”, March
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2013 | Supersonic Electronics, “Susannah Martin”, Zach Tutor, March, Mississipi, USA
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2013 | Empty Kingdom, “Susannah Martin”, Okmarzo, March, San Francisco, CA
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2013 | Poets/Artists Magazine, Didi Menendez, Issue #42, January, USA
2013 | INDA 6 International Drawing Annual, Manifest Press, Cincinnati, USA
2013 | Masters of Realistic Imagery, Art-Domain Verlag, Leipzig
2012 | Untold Method Magazine, Issue 5 Departure, Felice Zhukov, October
2012 | Visual Creativity Magazine, Mark McGough, January, London, UK
2012 | Best of Worldwide Portrait & Figurative Artists Volume II, Kennedy Publishing, Virginia, USA
2012 | Creative Quarterly, Journal of Art and Design, CQ 26, Charles Hively, Spring edition, New York, N.Y., USA,
2012 | Manifest Press, Cicinnati, USA, “INPA 3 - International Painting Annual”
2012 | World Wide Art Books, “International Contemporary Masters Volume v2”, by Despina Tunberg, Los Angeles, USA
2012 | Art Domain Verlag, “Who's Who in Visual Art Vol 2012-2013”, Ulrich Goette Himmelblau, Leipzig, Germany
2011 | “Art Takes Miami 2011”, Competition Finalists, SCOPE Art Fair, Miami, 2011
2011 | Express Cincinnati, “Take it off. 'Nude' at Manifest Gallery” by Fran Watson, September
2011 | Women Drawing Women, Online Exhibition, July
2011 | Architects and Artisans, “Looking out for the Unknown Artist”, by J. Michael Welton, July
2011 | Humanitari Wordpress Magazine, “Art of the Week by Susannah Martin”, Leandro Sanchez, July
2011 | Saatchionline Magazine, Behind the Canvas – Interview with Susannah Martin, June
2010 | Art Profil, “Susannah Martin: Spiegelung des Menschen”, Erik Buchheister, April
2010 | AVA Magazine, “Interview mit Susannah Martin Kunst in der Zukunft”, Alexandra Heil, April
2010 | Manifest Press, “Nude 3“ Catalogue, September
2009 | Artist Window, Cover, “Susannah Martin, 1. Preis – Gewinnerin Faces Kunstwettbewerb”, Kim Julia Fuge, Oktober
2002 | Exhibition catalogue, “In Between - Die Kunst Erwachsen zu Werden”, Dr. Anja Cherdron-Modig, May
2002 | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “In Between- Die Kunst Erwachsen zu Werden”, Grit Weber, May
2002 | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “Der Keltenfürst hält wieder Hof”, Schirn Kunsthalle, Ernst Wegener, May
1998 | New York Times, “Bunnies are out, Biedermeier is in”, Julie V. Iovine, February
1998 | Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, “In Between, Die Kunst Erwachsen zu Werden”, Grit Weber, May
Susannah Martin: The Reflection of Man
Man's difficult interaction with himself as the central point of an existential crisis in society
Consequence: Sustained alienation from one's own self
Man in his environment is not only an artistic issue, but also a philosophical and social one. One's own perception of what depicts reality focuses on man, admittedly, however he is in his being increasingly less differentiated and therefore more problematic as an object to be observed and comprehended. Being human means ever more frequently: alienation from ourselves. There are good reasons for this: financial and private globalisation - the loss of traditional family circles and circles of friends, for example, extreme work-related flexibilisation with considerable mental stress, amongst others. American-born artist Susannah Martin takes on this subject in a realistic manner, in order to present as a theme humankind in an environment - a natural, unspoiled landscape - which can be scaled down in an artistic way to such an extent that man can also become in his own perception what he really is. In the artist's pictures, the human form also embodies something which permits the observer an obvious process of identification and at the same time shows us plainly and without any compromise our own shortcomings and imperfections.
Susannah Martin, born in1964 in New York, studied art with the focus on painting (graduating with a Bachelor's degree plus distinction and a grant), then worked for four years as a scenic artist and muralist before moving to Berlin in 1991. It was not until 2004, working as a freelance artist and portrait painter, that she could again devote herself to her primary topic of interest, namely man and his social background. As a result of important exhibitions in the USA and Germany, public institutions as well as private collectors grew continually more interested in her creative work.
Realistic and at the same time peaceful - just 'natural' - is how Susannah Martin's works of art could be described, for in spite of a harmonious idyll, the artist in no way hints at that paradise worth striving for. She shows no utopian wishful thinking, but rather creative possibilities. In an artistic way she concretizes a discourse which elucidates man's dilemma by consistently concealing this. 'Bathing' men, women and children, as in the works 'The River' or 'C-section' , for example, should be something so natural, something so normal, almost banal even, yet still 'beautiful' as well, so that it would in principle be pointless to have to take as a central theme this bathing as a natural, an obvious leisure time activity. This is also the discursive crux, for that which is natural and obvious speaks for itself and needs no artistic involvement. When the artist, with good reason, hints at an awkward state of affairs, an imbalance between nature and corporeality, between man and his environment, this is the artistic impulse, which would be unnecessary if circumstances were in balance.
Indeed we sense during our reflection that a certain longing for harmony, for freedom from problems, for an 'evolved normative family structure' awakes - or in other words, such pictures are unusual, because they document more the wish for normality rather than the other way round.
The bathers are not so plausible in Susannah Martin's depiction that we purely and simply delight in what is portrayed, but the artist provokes a borderline situation by showing realism in an artistic way - naked, natural people, whose nakedness comes across as so direct and immediate that we, as observers, cannot avoid an inner, shamefaced look - and additionally we sense that it is exactly this which is desirable - and that we know such situations less rather than more.
The naturalness develops into the central motif, also artistically, for only complete detachment from observation enables unprejudiced observation.
Man is free when subject to restraints, for within these limits he can experience his own accountability far more intensively than a pseudo-paradisiacal independence, to the autarchy of which nothing and no-one is bound. As paradoxical as this may sound, being free and still not losing touch with oneself is one of humanity's main tasks nowadays. When man, and above all society, too, is once more a part of lively nature, is aware of his inconsistency and learns to live with this in a natural way, then his own alienation will make way for an evolved certainty of inwardness. Susannah Martin's photographic view is bound to no tradition at all. She ultimately breaks with established techniques and artistic mechanisms by practising an arbitrarily structuring room layout and object disposition. People occupy centre stage completely freely and are accentuated as such. Pictorial contrasts, which regulate light and shade centrally in the picture, are just as indispensable as the same relevance which permits the observer an obvious process of identification and at the same time shows us plainly and without any compromise our own shortcomings and imperfections.
Susannah Martin concedes both the figure and the surrounding landscape. It is less a matter of figures in a painted landscape, but rather the equal significance of this and other techniques shows a current view and involvement with a classical pictorial composition and traditional painting styles. An impartial depiction by a female artist of woman and man - and without a fig leaf - is in this day and age fortunately hardly worth mentioning, because it is normal and must be normal.
Susannah Martin works with photos. Freely conceived, staged and choreographed, the photos are arranged, cut, manipulated and set into the most different compositions. Only then does the actual painting process begin. Here, too, her artistic spectrum is wide: her technical expressive powers range from pastel right through to acrylic and oil or gouache. The artist asks us: 'If the romantic landscape deals with the memory of a still tangible paradise, what can the current landscape with a nude evoke? A perception of our relationship to nature in its present form of 'master and slave' ? Our disengagement from nature and the discomfort arising from this? Or our longing for a power greater than ourselves and the dream of its resurrection?' And she answers her own question explicitly with a pictorial statement, whose option is an approach to us ourselves: coming out of the silence, observing, contemplative, open to emotion, the inner feeling which, like the surface of water, approaches one's own feeling and reflects itself. The fact that an idealising colour myth emerges, is intentional on the part of the artist. It is, however, a means to an end. For a good cause.
Erik Buchheister
ARTPROFIL Magazin für Kunst
Translated from original German by Maggie Bouqdib
ARTPROFIL Magazin für Kunst, Heft April / 2010, c SYNTAX Medienproduktion + Verlag GmbH, 68219 Mannheim, Deutschland