Large-scale canvases filled with cloudscapes and sun-bleached foliage create a lofty, ethereal atmosphere in A Piece of Me, Martine Poppe’s latest solo exhibition at Kristin Hjellegjerde London. The exhibition takes the form of an immersive installation in which viewers are invited into the artist’s “cloud museum”, a place of calm expansiveness and interconnectivity.
While Poppe identifies primarily as a painter, she uses photography as a form of “sketching”, to record the world around her and create a digital archive of personal experiences and memories, which she then translates into painterly compositions. For this latest series of work, she found herself gravitating towards imagery of the sky, trees and sunlight partly in response to her experience of lockdown while also reflecting on wider environmental issues. However, instead of focusing on the problems and associated feelings of anxiety and fear, Poppe explores art’s ability to provide space for contemplation and healing. “I want to be empathetic and generous through my work,” she says.
