Chris Martin
09 Oct - 15 Nov 2014
CHRIS MARTIN
9 October – 15 November 2014
September 10, 2014–It is our great pleasure to announce the representation and first exhibition of New York painter Chris Martin at Anton Kern Gallery. His first show will consist of a selection of new paintings created over the past summer in upstate New York. These works, as the writer Bob Nickas describes them in the accompanying book, present "sun-dried paintings and glitter in the rain."
Martin, whose career spans over three decades, continues to create bold, glittering paintings, each animated by undulating forms, radiating landscapes, and electric hues. Despite their immediate spectacle and immense scale (he connects canvases together to produce several of these larger works), the paintings exude a human grounded-ness that seems to stem directly from Martin’s connection to nature, rock & roll, street art, and a dedication to material experimentation.
Nothing and everything is sacred: Martin’s abstract forms offer a sense of mystical clairvoyance condensed into the profane, or vice versa. The paintings present a mesmerizing collision of formal geometries and diagram-like grids with cut-outs of dead pop stars, flashy cars, old records buried under layers of paint, and large amounts of holographic glitter (produced specifically for showgirls in Las Vegas). Consequently, Chris Martin’s paintings prove to be masterfully ambidextrous; one is able to fully experience their presence from a great distance or up-close, indoors or outdoors, in a state of spiritual transcendence or casual play.
Chris Martin has continuously exhibited in US and European galleries since the 1980s. His work has recently been presented in solo shows at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (both 2011); and the Nerman Museum, Kansas City, KS (2009). The work has also been included in group shows at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2014); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2013); Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany (2011); Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI (2008); American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY (2006); P.S.1, Long Island City, NY (2005); Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany (2004); Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY (2004); Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, NC (1998); The Denver Museum, Denver, CO (1991); La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California, CA (1989); and The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (1988). Martin lives and works in Brooklyn and upstate New York.
* A new monograph Chris Martin, published by Karma and Anton Kern Gallery will accompany the exhibition including a conversation with Bob Nickas and the artist.
9 October – 15 November 2014
September 10, 2014–It is our great pleasure to announce the representation and first exhibition of New York painter Chris Martin at Anton Kern Gallery. His first show will consist of a selection of new paintings created over the past summer in upstate New York. These works, as the writer Bob Nickas describes them in the accompanying book, present "sun-dried paintings and glitter in the rain."
Martin, whose career spans over three decades, continues to create bold, glittering paintings, each animated by undulating forms, radiating landscapes, and electric hues. Despite their immediate spectacle and immense scale (he connects canvases together to produce several of these larger works), the paintings exude a human grounded-ness that seems to stem directly from Martin’s connection to nature, rock & roll, street art, and a dedication to material experimentation.
Nothing and everything is sacred: Martin’s abstract forms offer a sense of mystical clairvoyance condensed into the profane, or vice versa. The paintings present a mesmerizing collision of formal geometries and diagram-like grids with cut-outs of dead pop stars, flashy cars, old records buried under layers of paint, and large amounts of holographic glitter (produced specifically for showgirls in Las Vegas). Consequently, Chris Martin’s paintings prove to be masterfully ambidextrous; one is able to fully experience their presence from a great distance or up-close, indoors or outdoors, in a state of spiritual transcendence or casual play.
Chris Martin has continuously exhibited in US and European galleries since the 1980s. His work has recently been presented in solo shows at the Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. (both 2011); and the Nerman Museum, Kansas City, KS (2009). The work has also been included in group shows at the Tang Teaching Museum at Skidmore College, Saratoga Springs, NY (2014); Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands (2013); Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany (2011); Richmond Center for Visual Arts, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, MI (2008); American Academy of Arts and Letters, New York, NY (2006); P.S.1, Long Island City, NY (2005); Karl Ernst Osthaus Museum, Hagen, Germany (2004); Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, Staten Island, NY (2004); Weatherspoon Art Gallery, University of North Carolina, NC (1998); The Denver Museum, Denver, CO (1991); La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art, California, CA (1989); and The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (1988). Martin lives and works in Brooklyn and upstate New York.
* A new monograph Chris Martin, published by Karma and Anton Kern Gallery will accompany the exhibition including a conversation with Bob Nickas and the artist.