Jade Marra

Jade Marra’s practice consists of rendering visible sensorial perceptions that affect and permeate her own body. At first, these sensations awaken a state of presence. These moments of sweeping attentiveness and contemplation of the everyday, typically occur in the environments of her intimacy and are often sparked by affectionate exchanges between her and her partners. In response to those moments, her first reaction is photographing a scene of her choice. In these photographs, which will later serve as references for the creation of the final artworks, paintings, there are bodies and/or objects that evoke the presence of the bodies of her intimacy.

In the second stage of her artistic practice, through painting, she reaches and articulates her initial sensorial perception. Jade Marra uses photography as an optical reference for her pictorial process, nonetheless, she conceives the painted image according to her subjectivity and sensorial memory. She deliberates which objects will have more focus, volume, fluidity, contour, color complexity, heat, sharpness, etc. Therefore, she builds images by superimposing material and symbolic layers that will recreate a sensorial atmosphere. Using highly diluted acrylic paint allows her to swiftly create several translucent layers. This effect confers depth to the paintings, inviting the viewer to penetrate the surface. In most of her paintings, the human body is the protagonist and is presented on an enlarged scale. Skin shades are typically made with fluid strokes and a vibrant palette, enhancing the presence and warmth that exude from these bodies. In other paintings, bodies are also metaphorically present through objects, usually made of glass - their materiality creates friction with the matter of real flesh and bones.