ALLAN MARTIN
A SENSE OF PLACE
27th November - 12th December 2021
Electro Studios Project Space
St Leonards on Sea
Responding to the title, A Sense of Place, this mixed group show explores themes of family, heritage, migration, displacement, identity, nostalgia, memory and loss through paintings, drawings, sculpture, installation and mixed media.
I am drawn to creating images which have simplicity, to achieve a sense of reality but not a direct translation, to include a shift, something present which is not fully explained or known. Often paintings explore themes which demanded the work be monochromatic. Now colour is finding a way through…..
With both parents being art teachers and artists, art was and remains a constant in his life, a core aspect of his character and creative interests. He chose to study a design discipline at art school and wanted that rationale as a way forward. Subsequently, varied creative challenges opened as he found a way in graphic design - these experiences being truly valuable and satisfying. However, he always intended to explore painting more fully and relishes the challenge....
I wanted to find time to paint. Now I have. It feels right.
ALLAN MARTIN An idea of working…
Photographic references are used not simply to portray what is there. I most often change a reference significantly, shifting and creating aspects that are not present in the original. Elements are montaged so a ‘place’ doesn’t exist in reality, it is often ‘designed’ by me.
These Dark Woods is an ongoing theme which continues to engage me. The potential to explore a sense of the undefined using trees, woods and sometimes figures – often with shadows cast by trees – the figures placed in a liminal space. These works speak of the human condition and evolve over time.
Subtle grid marks are elements I use often, useful in constructing a painting, they are constantly scored, reworked, redrawn and edited. These marks can allude to maps, grids, scales, cross hairs, crosses… for Landscape Artist of the Year, in Inverary, they indicated swords, to reflect the brutal history associated with the Clan whose home was the subject.
Other themes and ideas have their place too, often with a meaning not made obvious in the work, to be interpreted as the viewer wishes, the title offering a different perspective.
In this exhibition “Tourist ” takes what seems innocent yet includes a shift, the mountain, a screenshot of a war-torn area, the idea instigated by time spent on a Mediterranean holiday as war planes flew overhead when Libya was being bombed.
Similar juxtapositions feature in my work, disparate elements which create an unknown narrative, silence pervades, no real sense of specifics being included, no one answer finding a way forward. This ethos continues to engage me, it is what I search for. A painting is often finished when I don’t fully understand it and shan’t ever be able to.
November 2021
Read more about A Sense of Place here
Photographic references are used not simply to portray what is there. I most often change a reference significantly, shifting and creating aspects that are not present in the original. Elements are montaged so a ‘place’ doesn’t exist in reality, it is often ‘designed’ by me.
These Dark Woods is an ongoing theme which continues to engage me. The potential to explore a sense of the undefined using trees, woods and sometimes figures – often with shadows cast by trees – the figures placed in a liminal space. These works speak of the human condition and evolve over time.
Subtle grid marks are elements I use often, useful in constructing a painting, they are constantly scored, reworked, redrawn and edited. These marks can allude to maps, grids, scales, cross hairs, crosses… for Landscape Artist of the Year, in Inverary, they indicated swords, to reflect the brutal history associated with the Clan whose home was the subject.
Other themes and ideas have their place too, often with a meaning not made obvious in the work, to be interpreted as the viewer wishes, the title offering a different perspective.
In this exhibition “Tourist ” takes what seems innocent yet includes a shift, the mountain, a screenshot of a war-torn area, the idea instigated by time spent on a Mediterranean holiday as war planes flew overhead when Libya was being bombed.
Similar juxtapositions feature in my work, disparate elements which create an unknown narrative, silence pervades, no real sense of specifics being included, no one answer finding a way forward. This ethos continues to engage me, it is what I search for. A painting is often finished when I don’t fully understand it and shan’t ever be able to.
November 2021
Read more about A Sense of Place here
EXHIBITION ARTWORKS
EXHIBITION INSTALL PHOTOS
