Despite

Despite was inspired by the view outside the windows of Nehrling's studio which was entirely filled by the branches of five lush maple trees during the summer months. It often feels like she is communing with these trees, daily hanging her thoughts on them, enjoying their persistence.

Martina Nehrling is an American abstract artist whose dynamic and richly textured paintings evoke kaleidoscopic worlds of pattern, color, shadow and form.
Nehrling employs a highly developed, idiosyncratic painting method that involves methodical accumulations of abrupt, impasto brush marks.
Using pure, opaque colours, she projects a bold and vivid energy from her compositions. Each carefully placed mark grips on to its neighbour, forming hypnotic shapes and forms that seem to vibrate.
The hard edges and geometric shapes make the work feel structured and architectonic, while sumptuously oozing trails of paint drip freely, betraying an embrace of the accident, and a respect for the human hand.

Her works are in numerous public and institutional collections, including those of the Federal Reserve Bank, Chicago, IL and PNC Bank, Chicago, IL; and New York Presbyterian Hospital, New York, NY, among many others.