At this year’s Tefaf, Maastricht, Vigo Gallery will be exhibiting new works by internationally acclaimed British artist, Jason Martin alongside paintings from Lucio Fontana’s celebrated Concetto Spaziale series. This innovative show will explore the notions of depth, movement and three-dimensionality in painting as integral components in the work of both artists.
From the late 1940’s, Fontana aimed to create physical depth within the boundaries of his paintings. He punctured his canvases with holes (Buchi) or with carefully thought out slashes (Tagli) adding a third dimension to a traditionally two-dimensional medium. In 1947, Fontana founded the highly influential Spazialismo movement, promoting ideas on space within paintings which influenced both his contemporaries and following generations of artists. His works can be found in the permanent collections of more than one hundred museums around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, Tate Modern, London and the Centre Pompidou, Paris.
Ideas on the creation of depth on a flat surface are explored in Jason Martin’s rich and sensuous monochromatic paintings. His smooth, reflective strokes are carefully constructed through the application of oil paint onto aluminium to create a sculptural quality through the reflection of light. Martin’s working practice is not only mentally, but also physically demanding, as he employs all his strength to execute the fluid brush strokes with large, purpose made brushes. The final result is an abstracted image where the spatial relationship and sense of depth is distorted and accentuated.
Martin was born in Jersey, Channel Islands, in 1970. He received his BA from Goldsmiths College in 1993, and gained international recognition during the Royal Academy’s celebrated Sensation exhibition in 1997. Recent solo shows include Vigil at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice, 2009) and Near by Far at L.A. Louver (LA, 2011). Martin’s work is found in international public and private collections, including the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., the Government Art Collection, UK and the La Spezia Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Italy. He lives and works in London and Lisbon.
