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Lyricism, versatility and Jimenizm

It has already been said that the work of Martha Jimenez offers a myriad of meanings according to the powerful symbology that it contains. Also the peculiar use of the sense of humor, the irony and the traditions have been recognized. However, her speech has a greater quality to my understanding, capable of captivating, to make love and even spell the most insensitive public. I am referring to dreamlike lyricism, a concept that is based on a metaphorical type of poetry, cautious, subtle, sensual and dreamy.

At some point, criticism referred to Martha as the artist able to make poetry without the need for words. The lyricism existing in the artistic expression of this woman reaches highly hypnotizing, intimate and intense levels. The looks of her figurations acquire their own personality as soon as the exercise of reception begins. Fracting faces capable of dragging us inside to transform into a character more of the composition, and then return us to reality, transmuted into freer and lightened beings. Two of the pieces that, in my opinion, are the best expression of Martha's thoughtful caprice are the canvas The Journey and the watercolor of the series The Circus.

In the sculpture stands out, in this sense, the series Incantations of the Fish, and inside it, the piece Amen. Nevertheless in all her creation we can notice the intention clearly sought by the artist, lyrical yes, but accompanied by a dreamlike, surreal and fantastic imaginary, wonderfully interwoven by the maker.

Another intrinsic aspect of Martha's work is her versatility, not only because she is virtuous in the use of various media of visual arts and the use of different materials and supports, but also because her work operates in multiple spaces. It is a type of art of gallery and museum, but at the same time decorative, for varied decorations and open public sites, without losing at any time seriousness, authenticity, formal and conceptual validity, lyricism and what I understand as jimenizm or seal and style of the author.

From this perspective Martha has been conquering a position and a point of maturity that make her unique and at the same time diverse. Sensualism, aesthetic pleasure, intimacy, picaresque language, Cubanity and identity, cultural hybridity in ethnic specificity, are some of the adjectives used by critical and popular opinion and likewise are inscribed within the Jimenian universe.

In contrast and in dialogue with artists who also use or have used volume as a fundamental part of their work I want to point out that Martha achieves a peculiar style. While the so-called Boterismo has bet and is betting on the exaggeration of human and animal anatomy with the general intention of performing a scathing criticism of society and morality, recreating itself in a crude, ordinary, morbid, inert and sarcastic sensualism, Martha is trying to transmit pleasure and aesthetic enjoyment from a graceful, evocative, subtle, joyful, funny, delicate and moving sensuality.

Another recurring detail in the work of the Jimenian volume, unlike the Boterian, is the use of the sinuous, undulating and loose line that gives the illusion of lightening of the piece, either three-dimensional or two-dimensional and manages to convey movement, softness and delicacy, more closely related to the style of Rubens.

The Jimenian characters are characterized by being liberated and liberating beings, they are sympathetic, jocular and at the same time reflective with abundant emotional content inwardly, enjoyable and enjoying, surreal and daily, because duality is part of human life per se and a trained eye like Martha's would never miss the opportunity to use this as an expressive resource of substantive and unquestionable validity.

 

By: Lic. Maydelin Leiva Delgado.
MSc. in Latinoamerican Culture
Curator, galerist and art critic.