Born in Paris, Justine Formentelli spent her childhood in France, on the islands of Martinique and Reunion as well as Morocco where she was deeply influenced as an artist. Her work reflects the dreamlike qualities of the intense color-palette of European North Africa, its intricate calligraphy and mosaic of ancient symbolism and patterns. Whether figurative or abstract, her paintings always inhabit a certain place and tell a personal story. Exotic motifs, writing fragments in alphabets recognizable and extinct, as well as the layering of pages within the piece are all clues to the riddle of each work's narrative.

Justine's paintings are feasts of imagination and emotion, designed to seduce the eye and transport the viewer to locations and situations both exotic and mundane. It is thus that her work both entices and bonds itself to such a wide and enthusiastic audience.

After graduating at the top of her class from the Atlanta College of Arts, she worked as a designer for Harper's Bazaar in New York City. As well as producing illustrations for the Daily News and the New York Times, she found herself inspired by the rigors and sometime loveliness of the concrete jungle and began painting more and more seriously.

During subsequent years in San Francisco, through several galleries, expositions and a feature article in the San Francisco Examiner, she gained wide recognition as one of the most innovative and exciting young painters to come along in some time. All the while evolving her technique but staying true to her first artistic calling: creating resonant dreamscapes of worlds physical and invisible.

After embarking on a yearlong world tour throughout Asia, South America, Australia and New Zealand, Justine exhibited the works from her travels at sell-out shows in San Francisco and Geneva to wide acclaim. She has exhibited her works throughout Europe and the United States and lives and paints currently in London with her husband and young son.

Among contemporary modern painters, Justine's sophistication and talent for capturing the essence of a place and the exoticism of an everyday moment is unparalleled. Owning an original Formentelli painting is a transporting experience as well as an important addition to any serious collection of contemporary Modern art and the jewel of any private home.