Daniela Martén
The work of Costa Rican artist Daniela Martén Rothe offers a dialogue between tropical exuberance and a perspective that prioritizes subtlety and emotion. With voluptuous, suggestive symbolism, she creates an expressive and eloquent language to reclaim female sexuality as an act of resistance against social oppression. Her artistic creation invokes the sensory essence of humankind, transcending the purely decorative to project the transformative power of the feminine. It is a fertile exchange between her imagination and that of the viewer.
Daniela masterfully conveys the strength and beauty of women, particularly through elements reminiscent of flora, vibrant with color and vitality. Her work speaks to a visual poetry in which nature inherently possesses dignity and poise, which, though silent, are readily apparent. She takes us on a journey through textures, sensations, and colors, exploring femininity as a path to liberation and celebrating its sensuality. Her attention to detail transcends traditional interpretations. It is an art that appeals to the primal and visceral, demonstrating that feminine energy is, above all, a force for social and personal change.
Her artistic development began in childhood, as she felt a fascination with color and visual aesthetics from a young age. She graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from the University of Costa Rica and continued her studies independently. She won first prize at the CROMA Biennial, participated in the National Salon at the Costa Rican Art Museum in 2022, and exhibited at The Cutting Garden at Room57 Gallery in New York. She has exhibited at the Spanish Cultural Center in Costa Rica and the San Ramón Regional Museum. She was also among the invited artists in the first exhibition of the feminist collective Casa Ma and at Valoarte 2012. Currently, she is part of the co-management of “Queremos Pintar” (We Want to Paint), an initiative to raise the profile of active women painters, and manages the independent artist studio space Amante Art Lab. She has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions both in Costa Rica and abroad.
Observing Daniela's artwork is like entering a secret garden where we become explorers of what is seen and what is intuited. Each stroke will be a path flowing between palpable beauty and the echo of the invisible, a sensory and emotional exploration where not everything is revealed at first glance.
