Movement Is Life - Feature at Madeworthy

Much of Donald Martiny’s artwork walks an intriguing line between painting and sculpture; he creates pieces that interact profoundly with spaces and the dynamic language of light that fills them. 

From his studio in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Martiny has his art shown all around the world, with two pieces found in the One World Trade Center building. Represented by the folks at Galleri Urbane, currently based in both Dallas and Marfa, his reputation continues to chart a rising course, and this momentum has brought him to the lobby of the Frost Building in downtown Fort Worth. 

Read the entire article here.

Donald Martiny featured at HonestlyWTF

There’s something so satisfying about Donald Martiny‘s hefty brushstrokes. These larger than life pieces of art are more like sculptures than paintings, as the American artist use gallons upon gallons of polymers and dispersed pigment paint to create his work. Amazing how a single gesture can feel so powerful.

View the entire blog post here.

A Martini Moment with Donald Martiny - Interview with Katarina Feder of Artists Rights Society

Oryo, 2019 (Dispersed pigment and polymer on aluminum), 25 × 15 in (63.5 × 38.1 cm)

Best known for his ‘frozen’ brushstrokes, Donald Martiny’s large scale abstractions manage to be both sculptural and painterly, while somehow effecting the action of performance art. It is no wonder then that Open, Martiny’s latest solo exhibition on view till January 2nd at the Dimmitt Contemporary Art in Houston, continues the artist’s exploration of the "gesture," which is made to exist forever in the present. Katarina Feder of Artists Rights Society sat down with the artist to talk contemporary culture, artistic influences, and the surprisingly delightful taste of a blue crayon.

KATARINA: Your newest show at the Dimmit Contemporary Art is called OPEN, which the curator writes is a reference to “the action of the viewer, rather than the object itself.” For all your viewers out there, what do you think we can all be a little more 'open' to and why?

DM: What a terrific question. Forgive me but my answer will not be specific to painting. We live in a time of branding, packaged information, and sound bites. Because we are all so very busy, we often gather information quickly from headlines or YouTube clips. But the world is a complex place and context is important. Modernist thinking held fast to universal and monotheistic ideals and manifestos, a sort of binary way of thinking. Post-modernism offered pluralism though often in an ironic, cynical, or critical way. We can all learn by listening better and being open to opposing views and new ideas.

KATARINA: We hear this series is inspired by Robert Motherwell. We represent him too! If you could speak to Robert and ask him one question, what would it be?

DM: If only I could. I would, without question want to hear about his time in Taxco, Mexico with Wolfgang Paalen. It was such a turning point in the history of art though not often talked about or written about. I believe their meeting played a profound role in the genesis of abstract expressionism and the New York School of painting.

KATARINA: Your works have been referred to as the “brushstroke” itself, and you paint in so many incredible and vibrant colors. If you were a color, what color would you be and why?

DM: Oh my, what a challenging question. That is like asking which note on the piano I like best. Perhaps this is the answer: I sincerely believe my fascination with art occurred at a very early age, not because of my passion for drawing, or my fascination with images, but because of a pure color experience I had when I was very young. Color has always had an intense and profound effect on me. When I was in kindergarten, I had such a powerfully visceral response to the colored crayons that I wanted to experience them by smelling, feeling, and tasting them. I remember trying to eat the phthalo blue. Perhaps that old familiar saying is right: “you are what you eat.”

KATARINA: You call your works “actual authentic gestures.” In the spirit of Thanksgiving, what was a recent authentic gesture made to you and why were you thankful for it?

DM: I feel very lucky as many people have been extraordinarily kind to me. I will never forget Douglas Durst for offering me the opportunity to create two monumental paintings to be permanently installed in the lobby of One World Trade Center. That took an exceptional amount of trust and vision on his part. It was tremendously meaningful to me personally and was a turning point in my career as an artist.

KATARINA: Your name is Martiny, so we have to ask: shaken or stirred?

DM: I am not often or quickly shaken or rattled, but I am easily stirred… emotionally. You might catch me shedding tears while reading a book or at the movie theatre. As for drinks I prefer a very dirty Martini with lots of olives.

This interview appeared in the Artist Right Society’s newsletter of November 2019.

Solo Exhibition: OPEN at Dimmitt Contemporary Art

Eddas, 2019, dispersed pigment and polymer on aluminum, 47 x 60 in.

Dimmitt Contemporary Art is pleased to announce OPEN, an exhibition of paintings by North Carolina artist Donald Martiny. 

Martiny’s OPEN series continues the artist’s exploration into the presence and power of gestures made to exist forever in the present. Moving away from earlier forms that were closed, Martiny’s latest body of work incorporates a significant amount of negative space. 

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“Donald Martiny’s work forces us to question the established definitions which form the backbone of our understanding of painting as both a pursuit and a product, and of paint as a medium. In challenging the viewer in these ways, it is not only visually exciting but intellectually invigorating.” - Professor Deborah Swallow, Märit Rausing Director, The Courtauld Institute of Art

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OPEN refers to the action of the viewer rather than the object itself. Martiny borrows this concept from a series of works by Robert Motherwell, depicting abstract windows in order to gaze into the infinite. Operating in the gap between painting and sculpture, Martiny defines his paintings as the brushstroke itself.

These sculptural brushstrokes are created by manipulating paint, pigments and polymers to create lyrical, abstract expressionist paintings. Martiny is interested in allowing gesture to escape from the traditional rectangular support and realize its potential in relation to architectural space. Each piece encourages a dialogue between the viewer, the work, and the space contained within.

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Donald Martiny, OPEN
Solo Exhibition at Dimmitt Contemporary Art
Nov 7, 2019 - Jan 2, 2020

Interview with The Art of The State

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.

Solo Exhibition: Donald Martiny | Divine Material, Curated by Alain Chivilò

The strength of an artist is to create with originality starting from cultural education in the art history. Donald Martiny, as incipit, was inspired by his colleague Barnett Newman, refining a greater analytical propensity, apt to search all that is transcendental.

In the concept aimed at chasing the beyond, in what we know and see, bases are determined to shape creativity in unexplored compositions.

If for Newman to conceive implies managing chaos within image-essence, art consequently must tend to the discovery of "new forms and symbols having the living quality of creation".

Donald Martiny born in the County of New York State in an area of artistic fervor starting from Abstract Expressionism, interprets, although belonging to successive generations, an inner revolution through incisive gestures.

Living in the Big Apple air, a city that was able to unite history and experimentation in a cultural and artistic context, allowed Martiny to design by combining form and colors. From these pictorial elements there is a historiography within a contemporary vitality.

Consequently, for the artist, the creation takes place in an action along a compositional interpretation governed by immediacy and hidden programming, as for example Gutai Group and Action Painting.

Donald Martiny does not linger on the result obtained in the instant and in the will, but investigates how space and forms can play with each other in illusory relationships. To this end, in his works, multiple plans are determined among light, environment and movement thanks to a skillful combination of pictorial overlaps.

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“The present painter is concerned not with his own feelings or with the mystery of his own personality, but with the penetration into the world-mystery. His imagination is therefore attempting to dig into metaphysical secrets.” - Barnett Newman

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Every artistic composition comes from a previous project that, from the color theory, generates nuances for intelligent tonal mixtures connoting a Martiny style.

The artistic act starts from a reasoning that, in the different intensities, is realized through a calibrated use of brushes, hands and other tool useful to cause visually gentle scratches. Physical movement is a creative act for a sinuous and enveloping shape in an effective rhythm always in harmony with the generating force. Therefore, the gesture is in the colors while the external light creates, naturally or artificially, energies that put the work in connection with the hosting space.

Where the not form seem to contradict itself, denying it, Donald Martiny allows it to be reborn, generating sensory, dynamic and interactive relationships, obtaining positive emotions. Tactile values are naturally formed between the volumes and the plastic effects towards the observer, for relationships of pure emotion.

The different nuances thus directly influence the soul as indicated by Wassily Kandinsky, but also allow them to be stretched in their static movement, for a vibration of clear musical freedom. Martiny's works always live within a materiality ruled by gradations rich in poetry for simply dreamlike architectural contexts.

In his self-discovery action, reference to Jackson Pollock, through an apparent non-violent sign shapes asymmetrical commas, which in their visual interaction, multi-dimensional and physical, echo lyrical abstractions of expressive painting always linked to the surrounding environment. Martiny conceives pictorial creations that, in an apparent simplicity, deepen intellectually the human essence.

Paraphrasing a thought of the writer George Bernard Shaw, it is evident that the pictorial-sculptural action of Martiny, in his personal elaboration, starts from afar because he believes "in Michelangelo, Velásquez and Rembrandt, in the painter of drawing, in the mystery of color": in that sometimes symbiotic, sometimes mutualistic relationship that links elements of art history to contemporary forms and symbols.

Donald Martiny reveals metaphysical enigmas, recalling how originality combined with interpretation generate new complexities, but above all allow a multidimensional interaction between time, tactile sensation, visual perception, spatiality, colors, matter and light.

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Donald Martiny, Divine Material
Solo Exhibition Curated by Alain Chivilò

Casa Del Mantegna, Mantova, Italy
July 20 - August 25, 2019

Solo Exhibition: Praxis + Poesis at Diehl Gallery, Jackson WY

Diehl Gallery presents Donald Martiny's second solo exhibition, Praxis & Poesis.  The title and exhibition are inspired by the process of work and practice that goes into creating a work of art.  During the Renaissance the actual work that went into a piece of art was often pushed aside in favor of the myth of the inspired genius.  Martiny instead dissects the work and puts the parts on full display.  Each lush work is a physical representation of the visible process of practice or praxis, while simultaneously being a fulfilled and whole work of art on its own, or poesis.

Martiny enjoys letting us see the beginnings of the creative process, the colors mixing together and morphing into something new.  By doing so and “by changing the values or exploring the addition of other colors, it’s become easier to see the architecture of the gesture,” he says. “I like the process to be visible. (Landi, 2017)”

Martiny’s work centers around the idea of seeing the process and realizing that the process is a work of art.  It is not the end-product that is so vital, as it is that we see where the end-product came from and the history and story behind it.  By acknowledging the work Martiny further pushes the art historical conversation on what makes great art into new territories and asks us to question our own place in relation to his art.

Martiny’s work has been exhibited in numerous museums, including the Fort Worth Museum of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, Alden B Dow Museum of Art, Falmouth Museum, and the Cameron Art Museum. In 2015 Martiny received a commission from the Durst Organization to create two monumental paintings that are permanently installed in the lobby of One World Trade Center in New York City. In 2015 Martiny received the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts Residency Grant and his work has been featured in the Huffington Post, NPR, Philadelphia Inquirer, VOGUE LIVING | Australia, New American Paintings | South and Woven Tale Press.

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Donald Martiny: Praxis + Poesis
July 18 - August 7, 2019

Artist Reception
July 18, 5-8pm

Diehl Gallery
55 West Broadway, Jackson, WY 83001

solo Exhibition: Singular Forms at Madison Gallery, May 25th, 2019

Madison Gallery presents Donald Martiny’s third solo exhibition, SINGULARFORMS. The title refers to the singular form defined by the physicality and the intimacy between the work and artist. Martiny creates a gap between painting and sculpture and rejects the two-dimensional canvas or panel to establish a relationship between space and viewer. These paintings are not layered but mixed into one form; they are dynamic, complex and very personal.

“I want my paintings to possess their own life force, their own “breath of life.” I want to offer an intimate, engaging, and authentic experience between the viewer and the artwork. Additionally, I work hard to create work that has a dialogue with the history of painting but at the same time is not beholden to it.”  - Donald Martiny.

Martiny’s work concentrates on the importance of the brushstroke as a real means of connection between artist and material. 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 never thinks of, or use color in a political or symbolic way, nor does he approaches color in a scientific or theoretical way like say Goethe, Chevreul, Itten, or Albers. He experiences painting as pushing and moving pure sensation and feeling, i.e., joy, tragedy, tenderness, affection, love, passion, energy, ardor. More than an exploration of optics or beauty his use of color is a kind of spiritual quest.

Martiny’s work has been exhibited in numerous museums, including the Fort Worth Museum of Art, Courtauld Institute of Art, Alden B Dow Museum of Art, Falmouth Museum, North Carolina Museum of Art and the Cameron Art Museum. In 2015 Martiny received a commission from the Durst Organization to create two monumental paintings that are permanently installed in the lobby of One World Trade Center in New York City. In 2015 Martiny received the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts Residency Grant and his work has been featured in the Huffington Post, NPR, Philadelphia Inquirer, VOGUE LIVING | Australia, New American Paintings | South and Woven Tale Press.

Read more about the exhibition here.

Donald Martiny talks about his paintings with Noah Becker

It's been a long process getting an interview going with Donald Martiny. Not because he's is difficult to contact but because it takes me a while to think of the right questions to ask such a complex artist. I had the pleasure of meeting Martiny at my weekly Whitehot Magazine Art Party that happens every Tuesday night at the Jane Hotel Roof Bar in New York City. Martiny is an intelligent, warm individual who has obviously spent many years studying and perfecting his work. I've spent time with Frank Stella and I hold Martiny in the same regard as a modern master in the making. The following conversation took place aproximately one week before I met him at my party. 

Where are you from?

I was born in upstate New York in the early 50s. My family lived in a small split-level house nestled in the middle of an orchard near Ballston Lake.

When did you discover art?

The first art that I remember being aware of was the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere by Grant Wood which was printed in a repeat pattern on the upholstery of our living room couch. That fantastic imagery was mesmerizing to me and as spellbinding and entertaining as any storybook or film. By the time I was in my early teens we had moved to Holland, Michigan and I was devouring every art book I could get my hands on. At fourteen I began making day trips on my own to the Art Institute of Chicago via Greyhound bus, something no parent would tolerate today.

Did you attend art school?

Yes, several. I studied art history at a liberal arts college in Michigan, then moved to New York City to attend the Art Students League where I studied painting with Ronald Sherr and Terence Coyle. Later I went to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art (PAFA) in Philadelphia.

At that time I resolutely pursued a classic academic approach to my studies focusing on the figure and landscape. I felt strongly that I needed to learn how to draw and paint before I could allow myself to push on and find my own voice.  

In the mid-70s I moved to NYC straight out of college to become a studio assistant but sadly that opportunity fell through leaving me stranded but determined to stay in New York.

I quickly landed a job managing the art book department at Doubleday on Fifth Avenue and 57th Street placing me just around the corner from many of the important art galleries, such as Betty Parsons, Marlborough, André Emmerich, to name just a few. Many notable artists visited the bookstore and one day Ellsworth Kelly came in to look for a particular book on Turner.

Remarkably generous with his time, we spent the entire afternoon talking about shaped canvases, space, color, and Brâncuși. There were many of these kind of experiences that felt inspiring and were critical to my art education.

Your work is dramatic and sculptural, how did you arrive at this idea?

A turning point occurred one day in the studio a little over a decade ago while I was starting a new painting—a de Kooning kind of gestural study.  I had painted a single brushstroke in the middle of the canvas when I stepped back to decide what my next move should be. It suddenly struck me that any other brushwork would only diminish the power and integrity of that original gesture. It felt to me that any additional marks that I might make would only be in reaction to the edge of the canvas or simply filling in the negative areas. 

I imagined the substrate falling away from a self-contained gesture and immediately began to explore how to let the brushstrokes determine the form of the painting. Once I embarked upon that journey everything changed. Without defined boundaries or limitations to the form, I had to come up with a whole new paradigm of what it meant for me to create a “painting.” This pushed me in every conceivable way to develop paint and support systems that would help me realize this idea.

What historical artists inspire you?

There are many but I am particularly attracted to the innovators.  For example I am in awe of the painterly approach developed by Giorgione and Titian. They were exceptional in their application of loose brushwork, subtlety of tone and pure sensual expression.  They pioneered a lyrical way of seeing things unique to the Venetian school that was without precedent. No one had seen paint like that before. Also I recently discovered the work of the Polish constructivist sculptor Katarzyna Kobro. I find her sculptures absolutely remarkable in the way she uniquely organizes space Her work titled, Space Composition 4 (1929) is so brilliant and deceivingly complex that I can hardly stop thinking about it.

If you could be one historical figure who would you be?

I love to imagine what it must have been like for the first person to draw an image. How magical and powerful that must have been.  I recently saw Antony Gormley’s film, How Art Began and found it to be stunningly inspiring and fascinating. The tenderness, attention and perhaps even love that is evident in some of those early cave paintings is breathtaking.  It is interesting to think of creating an image when no image existed before.  How does that happen?

Do you read a lot?

I read voraciously.  In the evening I like to read novels and every morning my wife, who is also an artist, and I share a study time.  Together we read about art history, theory, criticism, and philosophy.  Currently we are reading texts by Yve-Alain Bois,  Isabelle Graw,  and Rosalind Krauss. 

What does color mean to you and how to you arrive at specific colors?

I never think of, or use color in a political or symbolic way, nor do I approach color in a scientific or theoretical way like say Goethe, Chevreul, Itten, or Albers. In fact I don’t really think of paint as paint, or color as color.  I experience painting as pushing and  moving pure sensation and feeling, e.g., sympathy, elation, agitation, ecstasy, sorrow, passion. More than an exploration of optics or beauty my use of color is a kind of spiritual quest.

What is your work made from, or rather how is it constructed?  

My process begins with sketching and play.  I make sketches everyday, usually first thing in the morning, although sometimes I change things up and sketch in the evening or even late at night for different light and mood.   

I have a dedicated wall in my studio that I fill with my favorites and live with them for awhile.  If a sketch still excites me after a period of time I may attempt to make a larger work using it as a starting point or an inspiration.  The goal is not to replicate or simply blow up the sketch but to capture the spirit and feeling of it. 

The floor of my studio is covered with aluminum,  I think of it as an arena. I paint on the floor using my hands or brushes I make from brooms. I am not one to paint from the wrist or from the elbow, I am literally in the paint. And I usually paint directly without drawing.

The paint I use is a mix of pigment with a long-chain polymer. Often I grind my pigment using an Ultrasound machine that allows me to maximize the amount of pigment I can load into my mixture. I spend an absurd amount of time mixing colors.

Once the color feels right, I may use any number of modifiers to adjust the viscosity, rheology, stiffness, open time, transparency, etc.  My large works require gallons and gallons of paint.

Once the paint is dry I cut away the negative areas of aluminum leaving only the paint. My process is constantly evolving as I am always pushing my materials, processes, and ideas. 

What would you like the viewers experience to be seeing a show of your work?

I believe you are asking about intentionality.  I want my paintings to possess their own life force, their own “breath of life.” I want to offer an intimate, engaging, and authentic experience between the viewer and the artwork. Additionally, I work hard to create work that has a dialogue with the history of painting but at the same time is not beholden to it. 

What’s next for you?

I have been invited by a private foundation to exhibit in Padua, Italy. The venue is an elegant but dated building situated on a canal.  Padua is home to the wonderful Giotto fresco cycle (1305)  housed at the Cappella degli Scrovegni (Arena Chapel). This will be my first time exhibiting in Padua and I am quite excited about it. WM

Read the interview on the Whitehot Magazine website by clicking here.