PAUL MARTINSON

Paul Martinson Dream Swimmers 4th - 29th June 2011

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

milford galleries queenstown 9A Earl Street (03) 442 6896 qtown@milfordgalleries.co.nz

1. PAUL MARTINSON, Predator and Prey in Sleeping Paradise (2011) watercolour & watercolour pencil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 765 x 984 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 420 x 665 mm

1. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, Predator and Prey in Sleeping Paradise (2011)

2. PAUL MARTINSON, Dreaming and Floating (2011) watercolour & watercolour pencil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 782 x 986 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 440 x 670 mm

2. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, Dreaming and Floating (2011)

3. PAUL MARTINSON, Shrill Cry (2011) watercolour, watercolour pencil & gouache on paper, frame (v x h x d): 790 x 995 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 437 x 640 mm

3. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, Shrill Cry (2011)

4. PAUL MARTINSON, Black and White Trance Symphony (2011) watercolour & watercolour pencil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 800 x 995 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 445 x 665 mm

4. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, Black and White Trance Symphony (2011)

5. PAUL MARTINSON, Wedding Safari (2011) watercolour, watercolour pencil & gouache on paper, frame (v x h x d): 825 x 965 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 480 x 645 mm

5. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, Wedding Safari (2011)

6. PAUL MARTINSON, The Quantum Force of Mother (2011) watercolour, watercolour pencil, gouache & acrylic on paper, frame (v x h x d): 825 x 995 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 480 x 680 mm

6. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, The Quantum Force of Mother (2011)

7. PAUL MARTINSON, The Mimics (2010) watercolour, watercolour pencil, gouache & acrylic on paper, frame (v x h x d): 950 x 1237 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 550 x 870 mm

7. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, The Mimics (2010)

8. PAUL MARTINSON, Mother Lover Melodrama (2011) watercolour & watercolour pencil on paper, frame (v x h x d): 800 x 996 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 450 x 670 mm

8. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, Mother Lover Melodrama (2011)

9. PAUL MARTINSON, The Transformation of Venus (2011) watercolour, watercolour pencil & gouache on paper, frame (v x h x d): 789 x 980 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 455 x 650 mm

9. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, The Transformation of Venus (2011)

10. PAUL MARTINSON, Genetic Landscape for Birds (2011) watercolour, watercolour pencil & gouache on paper, frame (v x h x d): 846 x 1047 x 34 mm, painted image (v x h): 485 x 670 mm

10. DETAIL VIEW PAUL MARTINSON, Genetic Landscape for Birds (2011)

The subjects in Paul Martinson’s exquisitely rendered watercolours are ‘en-tranced’. Magpies doze in quiet companionship, kingfishers float in a dreamscape, herons and women sleep entwined. Species are instantly recognisable as tui, gannet, waxeye, but despite his meticulous depiction of pattern and colour, Martinson’s works are not bird portraits or reference plates.

Martinson allows his mind’s eye to wander and, drawing on the philosophies of surrealism, believes that “to draw spontaneously without conscious reference to normality, morality and social taboos … is an attempt to allow a ‘free flow’ of imagery and ideas as a painter.” (1) This ‘free flow’ permits him to create spaces where birds and women may be lovers or where birds sleep tucked up in individual ‘pigeonholes’ with bills, beaks and feet falling unselfconsciously out of the picture plane. The juxtaposition of the rational and the irrational is a powerful tool and the viewer has no choice but to examine the relationships between what is ‘real’ and what is not.

The - mostly faceless - female forms that cohabit with birdlife in Martinson’s ‘trance-space’ can be read as an archetypal woman: at once mother, lover, companion, living creation. The potentially unsettling sensuality of these paintings is tempered with the tenderness with which the artist has assembled the tableaux. Avian and human bodies curve in to one another and claws do not clutch, but embrace. The scenes bring to mind the myth of Leda and the Swan, but the violence and drama of that story is absent here.

There is stillness inherent in these works, heightened by the textural richness and harmony of Martinson’s mark-making. Using combinations of watercolour, watercolour pencil, gouache and acrylic, he creates the lush, moody backgrounds evident in a work such as ‘Wedding Safari’ while at the same time describing the delicate tracery of feathers and claws. A fine sense of balance in the composition prevails, both spatially and in the tonal textures the artist uses: feathers and hair mimic one another as do wings and limbs. Fabrics are draped softly, providing a foil for hard, piercing beaks.

Tranquillity suffuses Martinson’s scenes, yet his figures exhibit a dynamism that is especially seen in a work such as ‘The Mimics’. The artist’s composition of curved bodies, taut limbs and flying hair implies that this repose is purposeful – the figures appear to be actively dreaming rather than passively slumbering. Indeed, in ‘The Transformation of Venus’ change is happening before our eyes as woman becomes bird – or does bird become woman?

Martinson does not allow the viewer to sit on the fence. If his works evoke strong reaction, it is testament to his consummate skill at showing us things that may unnerve and unsettle. His investigation of the irrational subconscious gives us the freedom to look at his works unhindered by a defined ‘reality’ and invites us to look into our own imaginings, whether or not we will.

1. Paul Martinson, Artist’s Statement, 2010

EXHIBITION PRICELIST

1

Predator and Prey in Sleeping Paradise (2011)

6,000

2

Dreaming and Floating (2011)

6,500

3

Shrill Cry (2011)

6,500

4

Black and White Trance Symphony (2011)

6,500

5

Wedding Safari (2011)

7,000

6

The Quantum Force of Mother (2011)

7,000

7

The Mimics (2010)

7,500

8

Mother Lover Melodrama (2011)

6,500

9

The Transformation of Venus (2011)

6,500

10

Genetic Landscape for Birds (2011)

7,000

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

PAUL MARTINSON b. 1956, lives Masterson

Non Vocal Dawn Chorus Vol 2 (2010)

“Martinson believes we are, at any time the sum of our entire experience which includes on one hand the connections we make throughout our life with all other creatures on the planet, even fleetingly (this comprises the great range of relationships we make), everyday experience, and the swirling, interlocking personal reality of our subconscious, and all that it comprises.” (1) Martinson’s work is “out of the ordinary, ethereal and often edgy, with a greater emphasis on the psychological, the sensual and the sexual.” (2) “Martinson has created a new aesthetic in which meticulous attention to detail, rich surface texture and beauty co-exists with a definitive and individual point of view.” (3) 1. Paul Martinson, Artist Statement, 2010 2. Kim Atherfold, ‘Paul Martinson: Sleep and Trance’, catalogue essay, 2007 3. Ibid Martinson, born 1956, lives in Masterton. Prior to taking up painting as a full time career in 1987, he worked as a science technician for DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research). In 2004 Martinson was commissioned by Te Papa Tongarewa to paint New Zealand’s extinct birdlife, resulting in the publication, Extinct Birds of New Zealand, which was published in 2006. In 2007 Martinson exhibited a series of new works, marking a significant change of direction in his painting and drawing practice.

Paul Martinson 2011 CV P a g e |1

milford galleries queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

PAUL MARTINSON b. 1956, lives Masterson SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2011 2010 2009 2007 2006 2004 2002 2001 2000

Dream Swimmers, milford galleries queenstown Mellomania, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland A Freudian Slip, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland Sleep and Trance, Ferner Galleries, Auckland Te Papa Tongarewa's Extinct Birds of New Zealand publication launch with accompanying exhibition entitled New Work.

Creatures Recreated, Ferner Galleries, Auckland Tide, Ferner Galleries, Auckland Colours of the Wild, Ferner Galleries, Wellington Rare and Threatened Birds, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2009 2009 2009 2008 2007 2007 2007 2005 2003 2002 2002 2001 1994 1993

Advent, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland The Inimitable Mister Hopkins: The Barry Hopkins Art Collection, Waikato Museum of Art & History, Hamilton Mindgames: Surrealism in Aotearoa, Hastings City Art Gallery, Hastings Outsider Art, Ferner Galleries, Taupo Wairarapa Review, Aratoi, Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton Chatham Islands, Southland Museum Auckland Art Fair, Ferner Galleries, Auckland Wairarapa Review, Aratoi, Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton Modern Landscapes, Ferner Galleries, Auckland Crosslinks, Pataka Museum of Art, Porirua Grids and Crosses, Ferner Galleries, Auckland Icons and Kiwiana, Ferner Galleries, Auckland Real Vision, Robert McDougall Gallery Christchurch Huia, Temanawa, Manawatu Art Gallery touring exhibition

COLLECTIONS Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand (Fifty-eight (58) paintings in watercolour portraying New Zealand's extinct birds)

BIBLIOGRAPHY 2010 2009 2008 2007 2006 1991 1991

McNamara, TJ, ‘More Than a Touch of Strangeness', Auckland Herald, October 2010.

Thornber, Lorna, ‘Bird’s-eye View’, Her Magazine, November 2010, Issue 121, p 116-119.

Atherfold, Kim, Venus in Free Fall: The Art of Paul Martinson 2004 – 2008. Dissertation completed at Auckland, University, Art History Department.

Atherfold, Kim, 'Paul Martinson's work on Aluminium', NZ Art Monthly, March 2008.

Atherfold, Kim, Paul Martinson: Sleep and Trance, catalogue, Ferner Galleries, Auckland.

Martinson, Paul and Alan Tennyson, Extinct Birds of New Zealand, TePapa Press, Wellington.

Martinson, Paul, New Zealand Birds, Grantham House, Auckland.

Gill, Brian and Paul Martinson, New Zealand's Extinct Birds, Random Century, Auckland.

Paul Martinson 2011 CV P a g e |2

milford galleries queenstown

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz