Born in Brazil, I moved to New York to join the East Village art scene in the late 80's. The ethnic diversity and urban rhythms of the Lower East side inspired an interest in different media, images,and techniques. I began to explore collage, painting, computer composition, form, movement and conflict in a array of lush colors and flirtations shape.

My work has a distinctive feminine feel but it is the struggle between moviment and stasis that is perhaps the most prominent theme. My art is a celebration of life in all its uncertanty and an affirmation of the irony of circunstance.

As a child I was always surrounded by many forms of art, my mother a crafts teacher and my father who lived in Berlin of the 20's and 30's. Growing up with my grandmother, a painter herself, and family friends such as Max Liebermann, would tell me stories and show me pictures. Our walls were covered with my grandmothers's paintings and as remember so well, the german art calendars. In Brazil, observing the art of Tarsila do Amaral, Volpi, Pancetti, Geraldo Jurgensen, Egas Francisco, Manabu Mabe, just to mention a few, and the simplicity of the naive Brazilian popular artists, I became aware of movement and form as elements for telling a story. I began to flirt with mymom's threads, fabrics, magazines, and my dad's maps and old objects.

In New York I had the privilege of knowing Stefan Rollof. With his very german wide range of imagination(painting, video, photography, sculpture) and with the special encouragement of David Wojnarowicz, another multi talented artist friend, I made my first series of woodcuts, painting, collage and photos. I must say that I can't stop!

Martha A. Friedlander



"One of the most crucial elements of being an artist is to possess drive; to maintain a deep sense of self-motivation. An artist's energy serves as a wellspring to urge one forward into new challenges while developing a unique expressive quality within one's medium. The common goal of most artists: to make work that is truly one's own. Whether Martha A. Friedlander embarked on her artistic journey by free choice or became an artist as if "bitten by a rabid dog" is inconsequential. Martha has maintained a hungry desire to explore her craft. Her commitment to painting should be evident in these eletronic pages. Martha won't be stereotyped. You won't find her images hidden in a dusty garret. Rather, you will have the opportunity to follow her journey right here. What's her map? Saturated colors...complex narratives...fantasy-- waiting to be discovered. Here's the moment to fasten your seat belt,put your tray table in it's locked upright position and enjoy the vista of Friedlander's imagination."

Lisa Lewenz - artist and filmmaker