COMPOSED LAYER BY LAYER
The work of Martine Jansen departs from an inner duality and restlessness. This disquitude seemingly gets resolved into silence and rest, but under the surface, tension keeps manifesting itself.
Her sculptural works are composed of different materials, including porcelain, wax, stone and bronze, or combinations of these.
As a contrast with these works, she makes paintings and collages in which color and composition are of central importance.
THE NATIONAL MEMORIAL FORT BREENDONK
A Place Of Remembrance
Belgium has not been spared the horror of Nazism and its concentration camps.
The fortress of Breendonk is a moving and striking example. It is one of the best conserved camps in Europe.
Between September 1940 and September 1944, around 3500 prisoners passed through Breendonk. 301 didn’t survive the camp.
We installed one of my artworks in the fortress of Breendonk. I wanted to pay tribute to the 301 prisoners who died at Fort Breendonk by hardship, execution or suspension.
301 hands are brought together as a memorial.
WORK ON PAPER
The collages and paintings on paper thematize the tension between order and chaos, between the loudness of expression and the quietude of reflection. The creation process confronts the expressive act, that is materialized in painting, with the act of contemplative rearrangement. In this way, the directness and agitation of an expressive painting is tamed. Through their process of creation, these collages bridge the forementioned tension, thereby making it approachable. In these works, composition and color are of central importance.
SENSIBLE FIGURATION
In 2000 Martine started designing artists-dolls in porcelain under the name MJBdolls, with which she acquired big international notoriety. Many of these dolls are spread over collections worldwide.
From 2012 she continued her experience with porcelain in figurative, visual work. At first the link to the dolls was still clearly tangible, with a direct figurative approach.
During the last years, her works incorporated more and more abstract stylistic elements, through which her sculptures acquired a more sensible figuration, but nevertheless became more autonomous objects.
