The Floor Is Lava 2020

Curator: This is Martine Johanna's painting from 2020, "The Floor Is Lava," an intriguing portrait rendered in acrylics. Editor: It feels melancholy. Like the aftermath of a party. The way she's draped over that strange chair… almost defeated, beautiful and resigned, gazing forlornly at a disco ball. Curator: Resigned is a great word for it. Johanna's work often plays with this tension between dreaminess and disillusionment. I keep thinking about that title, "The Floor Is Lava." It injects a bit of childhood game, a sense of urgency, but where is she escaping to? A fancy sofa? It doesn’t scan as much of a haven. Editor: Right! And let's think about that disco ball—a fairly mass-produced object of manufactured fun, cheap, reflective plastic. Her delicate hand on this quite humble object. There's a contrast that feels pointed. Is she examining her relationship with leisure, commodified pleasure? Curator: Absolutely, I also notice how the fabric drapes in this lovely pattern around her. How much does that robe insulate, disguise? The artist might ask us to look beneath surfaces, challenge us to imagine what’s seething beneath that surface composure. I want to hear this woman's secrets, truly! Editor: Speaking of the robe, its production value speaks volumes. Likely factory-made, shipped, and potentially discarded after a fleeting trend cycle, no? Perhaps Johanna nudges us to ponder the chain of labour, and waste linked to seemingly glamorous surfaces and objects like the ball. It's not only emotional vulnerability, but this tension around production of desire that attracts me. Curator: What I admire about Johanna is the sense that we’re never really *meant* to figure it all out. It’s the artist gesturing to deeper, more mysterious waters, with subtle clues. She isn’t offering up simple solutions, but rich avenues of thought to travel down, full of complex reflections. Editor: Indeed, its allure rests in how Johanna orchestrates meaning. Juxtaposing interiority with those subtle but calculated signals of our current consumer society. It all feels delicately balanced but not unstable in its emotional composition.