Gabriele Martin

You have lived and worked in several cities — Vienna, Basel, Toronto, and Düsseldorf. How have these different cultural environments shaped your artistic vision?

Living in different cities has broadened the way I look at the world and, in turn, how I approach painting. Each place offered its own cultural rhythm, visual language, and energy.

Vienna shaped my foundation — it’s where I learned to see art historically and structurally. Toronto expanded my sense of scale and diversity, it encouraged me to think more freely and intuitively. Düsseldorf exposed me to a strong conceptual tradition and sharpened my awareness of reduction and clarity. And Basel continues to influence me with its focus on precision, dialogue, and the coexistence of art and everyday life.

All these experiences flow together in my work, giving it a layered perspective that is both personal and shaped by different cultural contexts.

Your paintings often combine conceptual clarity with emotional subtlety. How do you balance intellect and intuition in your creative process?

For me, painting is always a dialogue between thinking and feeling. I usually begin with a conceptual impulse an idea, a contrast, or a question I want to explore visually. But once I start working on the canvas, intuition takes over.

I try not to force a narrative instead, I follow the rhythm of the painting and allow shifts, accidents, and emotions to guide the process. The balance happens naturally when I trust both sides, the clarity of the concept and the openness of intuition. That tension is what gives the work its quiet emotional tone.

Gabriele Martin | Yellow

How do you choose your color palette, especially the recurring use of gray, blue, and vivid accent tones like red or yellow?

Color has always been a moodsetter for me. Grays and blues create a calm, spacious, almost suspended atmosphere they allow the viewer to enter the scene without distraction.

The accent colors, like red or yellow, function as emotional triggers or points of tension. They interrupt the silence and bring a sense of immediacy or even slight unease.

I don’t choose colors purely aesthetically I choose them for their emotional temperature and the way they influence the narrative of the painting.

There is a sense of irony and quiet humor in your compositions — for example, figures interacting with surreal or oversized objects. Is this intentional commentary on contemporary life?

Yes, the subtle irony is intentional. I’m interested in the absurdity that often lies beneath everyday situations the way small gestures or objects can become symbolic when isolated or exaggerated.

The humor is quiet, never mocking. It’s more a gentle way of questioning how we move through a world that is both ordinary and surreal. I think contemporary life is full of contradictions, and my compositions mirror that tension in a playful yet thoughtful way.

Gabriele Martin | Tomatoes

Could you describe your working process — from idea to finished painting? Do you plan your compositions in advance, or do they evolve intuitively?

My process usually begins with an image or a fragment , a pose, an object, a color atmosphere. I sketch loosely, but I don’t create strict plans.

Once I move to the canvas, the composition evolves intuitively. I build it layer by layer, allowing elements to shift until the painting finds its balance. Some parts come quickly, others need time to settle.

For me, the painting reveals itself gradually. I like to leave room for the unexpected, because those moments often become the most meaningful parts of the work.

What role does symbolism play in your art? Are the recurring elements (mountains, water, fruits, children) personal metaphors?

The recurring elements are not symbolic in a fixed or literal way, but they do carry personal resonance. Mountains, for example, represent both stability and distance. Water suggests movement and emotional depth. Fruits often function as playful exaggerations of desire or abundance.

Children appear as figures of openness they allow me to explore vulnerability and curiosity without the weight of adult expectations.

I use these motifs as anchors. They are flexible metaphors, open enough for viewers to project their own interpretations.

Gabriele Martin | North

How do you see the relationship between your background in make-up and interior design and your current artistic practice?

Both disciplines influenced how I perceive form, space, and surface. Make-up taught me to understand faces, gestures, and subtle emotional expressions. Interior design gave me an intuitive sense for spatial composition, balance, and atmosphere.

These experiences shape the way I construct my paintings, the way figures relate to their environment, the controlled use of color, and the careful attention to visual harmony.

Even though the mediums are different, the underlying sensibility is the same, creating spaces, moods, and identities.