Martine Kasmin

Your abstract paintings are rich in color and texture. Can you walk us through your process when starting a new piece?

I am primarily an intuitive painting. So, the painting and the creative process leads me through the journey from start to finish. I begin each piece with a thin wash of oil paint which covers the entire canvas. Covering the canvas in this way, ensures that I will work on the entirety of the painting and not focus on small parts that don’t add up to a strong whole. Once the canvas is covered, I make marks with pencil or oil stick. The marks help me to work through compositional ideas. I want to be certain that the final painting has a beautiful combination of large and small shapes, and that it leads the viewer’s eye around the canvas in an interesting way. The marks lead to adding more color, typically I focus on using complementary colors at this stage. Recently, this has meant either an orange and blue, or red and green color theme. These color themes transition nicely to flesh tones as I work: burnt sienna, cadmium orange, and Naples yellow combine to create warm flesh tones. While my paintings are at first look, entirely abstract, there are female figures, and to a lesser extent landscapes alluded to in each painting. From there, I vacillate between mark making with a variety of materials, (oil stick, oil pastel, pencil, charcoal), and oil paint to hone the image. I also think about the texture and surface to create variety, viewer interest, and movement throughout each painting. As I continue working, the process becomes not only additive, but subtractive in nature. I scrape paint off to create interesting textures and line work. Throughout the process, I continue to think about the elements of creating interesting and powerful paintings, until the image feels beautiful and complete. Each painting can take a few days or a few months.

Martine Kasmin | Slow Dance | 2025

You mentioned drawing inspiration from both classical painters like El Greco and modern artists like Cecily Brown. How do you balance these influences in your own work?

It’s amazing how much artists, especially painters can have in common with one another even if they painted hundreds of years apart. If I look at both El Greco and Brown’s work, the passion and power that each artist conveys through the use of paint is remarkable. El Greco as a painter in the 16th century was unique for his ability to convey emotion just by painting a sky. Additionally, the movement of his brushwork and his unique interpretation of the figure created emotionally powerful works. Cecily Brown, too is unique for her time. Her powerful use of color and her non-traditional drawing style also set her apart from other artists of her time. it’s actually a pretty seamless way to look at art. I look at beautiful paintings as beautiful paintings, no matter when they were created. Painters offer ideas to other artists about how to use paint and how to tell stories, and those things will always transcend time and artistic movements.

Martine Kasmin | Resist | 2024

Nature and personal memory seem to play an important role in your paintings. Is there a specific memory or experience that has deeply shaped your recent work?

I wouldn’t say specific memories are referenced in my work. But, I think it’s more of a file folder full of memories. I think there’s a vulnerability in my recent work that comes from my life experience as a woman in the world. If you look closely at my paintings, you can see nude female figures in them. The nakedness of these women alludes to this vulnerability, to being exposed. My experiences with depression, sexuality, friendship, freedom, and fear of freedom, all come through in my painting. These themes, and feelings, are where the power of my work stems from. The use of the female form also makes reference to the history of painting the female form throughout art history. Landscapes too, are sensuous in color, form and feeling. Memories of lush landscapes also play a role in my work for this reason.

Martine Kasmin | In The Hot Sun, August | 2025

Your use of line and gesture is very expressive. Do you approach painting more intuitively or with a structured plan?

Someone once described my work to me as, “controlled chaos”, I think that’s pretty accurate! There is a self-created structure in this approach. The “always” aspect to creating each painting. Always start with a thin wash of paint, always add interesting marks, always be aware of creating powerful color combinations. However, within that structure is a lot of room for spontaneity! While I’m working, I will reach a point where the purely intuitive will take over. It can feel as if I’m not actively thinking at all, that there is a direct link between my hand and my mind. The subconscious mind is a very powerful part of the creative process! That’s where the expressive line, gesture, and emotion in each painting come from. Without the subconscious, intuitive piece, my paintings would probably not be very interesting! One of the things you must become comfortable with as an artist, is trusting that part of your mind. It can feel pretty scary at times, because you really have to let go of where you think the painting “should” end up and allow the journey to run its course. Interestingly, often I find that the end result does relate to something I’ve been consciously thinking about all along! Then. I discover that I really was thinking during the entire painting session. I just didn’t actively realize it, because the ideas and thoughts were so imbedded in my subconscious mind. This is one of the most wonderful parts of the creative process! In my practice, I utilize both an intuitive and structured approach.

Martine Kasmin | Figure, Ground | 2025

How has your background in illustration and working with magazines influenced your current fine art practice?

I studied illustration and fine arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. At the time, I thought that illustration would be a more practical direction for my art. But, I struggled with this idea a great deal during my time at SVA and immediately afterwards. While I was in college, I already had a natural affinity for abstract art. Nevertheless, I did some commercial illustration after graduation. I had a painting teacher while I was at SVA whose advice to me was that for some artists the work starts with something internal and for others it is inspired by something external. He went on to say that one isn’t better or more valid that the other, but it appeared that my work came from within myself and not from an external inspiration. I think that’s true. When I committed to being a painter, I rejected almost everything I did as an illustrator. If there is one thing I held onto, it was the value of having some sort of a plan at the start of a piece. But, in order for me to be a successful painter, I needed to allow the intuitive piece to take over. For me, that’s where the magic of making art occurs.

Martine Kasmin | Feeling Upside Down And Backwards | 2024

Can you tell us more about your upcoming solo exhibition in Montclair in Fall 2025? What themes or ideas are you planning to explore?

I’ve always been an artist. However, I took a step back for many years and worked as an illustrator, a teacher of students with special needs, as a mom to twins. But, even while I was doing these things, the pull of being an artist creating work for no other reason than because it was a personal need, kept calling me back. COVID, which in almost every way, was horrible, brought me back to painting. It gave me the gift of time! I was able to get back into my studio, to be serious about my art again! My show and my art celebrate that theme: freedom of personal choice, freedom of expression, freedom to be creative in just the way you want to be, without restrictions. I. hope people feel this when they look at my work. An unbridled force of energy, creativity and expression. If you look closely at my work, you will also notice that it isn’t entirely abstract. There are female forms embedded in each painting. They are experiencing this freedom for better, and at times, for worse. When you are free, you are responsible for all of your decisions. Thus, there is a positive and negative vibe present in all of my work. Freedom in all its forms and with all its challenges is explored.

I’m really looking forward to having my solo show! It will be opening on September 11, at Academy Square in Montclair, NJ and will run until November 2025.

Martine Kasmin | Down The Rabbit Hole, Spring | 2025

Abstract art often invites multiple interpretations. What do you hope viewers feel or experience when spending time with your work?

I think that people will have many different feelings and responses to my work and that’s great! Each individual will bring their own background, life experience, and knowledge to my paintings. It is one of the reasons I love making and looking at abstract art. But, overall, I hope the viewer feels a pull to stay with each painting and spend time with it due to the powerful emotion and sensuousness the movement of paint that is intrinsic to each piece.