In a winter’s early evening, the sea and the sky take on an increasingly dark grey colour as night draws in, with the light of the dying sun running down the clouds into the sea as the white waves of the tidy flow in and out.
British artist Jason Martin compares his highly textured to landscapes but perhaps they are more like winter seascapes, given the monochromatic colours he uses and the way the gallery lights shine down the canvases like a winter sun.
Martin drags his oil paint across the surface to create deep flowing waves or strata which in some places are like the grooves of an old-fashioned vinyl record, with damage across the grooves, or have become the naturalistic shapes of a deserted landscape or seascape. Using the reverse technique, his new work creates shimmering cast silver panels where the silver appears to flow, twist and turn as if it is fluid trying to escape, set against a polished silver background which reflects the colours of the gallery walls, the shadows of the street through the windows and of visitors passing in front of them.
Jason Martin’s sets the scene for his new work at the Lisson Gallery near Edgware Road in London with an excellent video where he explains his philosophy and the technique he uses to achieve the new silver castings.
[…] mix with traditional paint in his paintings, and his new works are less flamboyant and curving than previous exhibitions. It is quite a contrast – he has become more subtle, more architectural, more subdued, […]