You may be familiar with Martiny’s distinctive, freeform, saturated, floating brushstroke work from his monumental installation at One World Trade Center. More recently and closer to home, you may have noted his highly visible piece in the NCMA-curated Art Window on the facade of the North Hills Bank of America Tower. Or you may have come upon Martiny’s pieces anywhere from Hong Kong to Padua, because he has spent the last several years working seven days a week, criss-crossing the globe for solo shows, major commissions, and art fair exhibitions in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.
Yesterday, just off the plane from Italy, he was back at work in his home studio when he agreed to sit down for an interview about his life and work for The Art of the State.
Early on as a painter, Martiny said, he painted landscapes, but felt hemmed in by the canvas. “It occurred to me that the rectangle is a portal, or a window, that you’re looking through to experience the art in a different place. And for me, it was really important to have a very intimate connection with the viewer...I wanted the art experience to be in front of the portal, not behind the portal. And also, I didn’t need a rectangle as a form. That didn’t make any sense, really.”
A lifelong student of art and art history, he noted the work of second-generation abstract expressionists: “You’ll see that they often make a strong gesture, one grand gesture, and then they’ll fill in the negative spaces.” To Martiny, “that diminished the integrity of the initial gesture, and it also took away from the power of it. So I thought, well, let’s get rid of that. So all of a sudden I had to get rid of not only the shape of the rectangle, I needed to get rid of the canvas completely. The whole ground. I had to get rid of the ground.”
Martiny’s newest work will next be exhibited in the Triangle as part of the NCMA’s Front Burner show, opening March 7.
Interview with The Art of The State
World-renowned Chapel Hill artist Donald Martiny at his home studio, Oct. 18.