I will be at Art Boca Raton with Baker Sponder Gallery. Look forward to seeing you!
Look forward to seeing you at Art Boca Raton
Opening reception this Saturday February 18th at Madison Gallery
Cover lot: Molala, 2016
Currently on view at Madison Gallery
Pittura a Macchia - Opening Night on February 18
Madison Gallery presents Donald Martiny’s second solo exhibition, Pittura A Macchia. The title refers to the disparagement of Italian Renaissance Master Titian’s late career works as “patchy pictures” or pittura a macchia. Up until Titian’s years, artists aspired to create smooth and unbroken surfaced compositions. This influenced an important shift in art history that centered on the physiological connection between artist and material.
As art critic and writer Ann Landi acutely stated, “up close the visible brushstrokes bring us nearer to the artist because they are such clear evidence of a hand following the dictates of the mind and eye.” Martiny’s work concentrates on the importance of the brushstroke as a real means of connection between artist and material.
In his own words: “because every gesture in the painting does something different. I realized that the architecture of the brushstrokes was as important to the painting as other elements, like color and drawing.” Said brushstrokes are big, lush, exuberant sweeps of pigment that are neither paintings nor sculptures, but hover in a space all their own.
The artist employs pigments, polymer and gallons of paint, sometimes between 30-40 at a time, to create the right color and viscosity to produce each individual composition. He not only utilizes wide brushes and sponges, but also uses his hands and body in order to create a harmonious choreography. He creates a gap between painting and sculpture and rejects the two-dimensional canvas or panel to establish a relationship between space and viewer.
Gestural Abstraction (detail)
Photo by @kingcullt
Donald Martiny's new book "Monumental Gestures" is now available
Donald's new book DONALD MARTINY: Monumental Gestures is available from the Ackland Museum Store and contains essays by Carter Ratcliff, Art Critic, Writer & Poet; Charles A. Shepard III, Executive Director of the Fort Wayne Museum of Art; Deborah Swallow, Marit Rausing Director of the Courtauld; Lawrence J. Wheeler, Director of the North Carolina Museum of Art. Or you can download it by clicking here.