Jana Demartini is a painter and printmaker who uses forms in nature as metaphor. Demartini lived under an authoritarian regime in the former Czechoslovakia, and escaped to the United States in 1965. She speaks of living in an authoritarian regime and how it impacts her work to this day. Under authoritarian rule, citizens are not allowed to speak their mind, so they learn to speak in code and read between the lines. Demartini uses elements from nature as metaphor. The viewer can look at her work literally, and see rock formations, or they can look more deeply and see her implied messages. “We create from our experiences. As we create we are exploring ourselves and our position in the world and our environment. It is an adventure.”

Demartini believes that “every artist’s process is their coping mechanism. It can be used as an escape from the troublesome reality”. Demartini used her studio practice fully in these very difficult times, albeit as a starting point. During the pandemic lock down, Demartini missed the beach, so she started creating it from memory. As she created the lovely, whimsical rocks which appear and disappear with the tide, a saying popped into her head: “hard as a rock.”

​

It dawned on her that rocks, the oldest, the most durable, solid feature of our world can symbolize endurance and loneliness in these difficult, stressful times.This series Demartini expresses her admiration for the stability of rocks. For this exhibition she has chosen pastels, a return or continuation of previous work about body-landscape.