Lot 333 | Sioux

MARTIN, JASON
1970 Jersey/Channel Islands

Title: Sioux.
Date: 2008.
Technique: Oil on Steel.
Measurement: 236 x 354 x 11cm.


Exhibitions:
- Deichtorhallen, Hamburg 2011

Literature:
- Luckow, Dirk: Zwei Sammler - Thomas Olbricht und Harald Falckenberg, Cologne 2011, p. 52 (w/o ill.)

The work "Sioux" is an example of Martins creations and his ideals. At first sight the unusual form of the work is striking. Instead of a classical canvas he created his work on a rhombic diamond-shaped surface with edges that are curved towards the centre. Martin also does not use calssical materials and uses instad no canvaces as carrier for his large oil paintings stainless steel. The choice of the unique form and material lets his works be assiciated with scupltures. This similarity to sculptures is Martin's interntional aim. The oil piant is applied thick almost three dimensioanlly. Although black oil paint is the most dominant component of the colours the work does not look monotone. Martin work with a comb to create deep reliefs into the wet paint. This way he incorporates actively light and shdowes and created a shimering black wavy sea from which it is difficult to look away from. Despite the thickly appied colours part of the priming coat are visible. This skilled use of coloures created a certain curiosity in the viewer's eyes and promotes for a visual exploration.
Thus, it is not just the carrier that creates a relationship to the scultures. Martin also attributes the surface itself to the sculpturistic characters during the creation process and consequently attacts the calssical division of painting and scultures. During Matrin's creation processes he redifined the bounderies between these art forms. Appart from the work's importance for discussing the brounderies of the categorization of art, the quality of Martin's monochrom works needs to be stressed. Jason Martin accopanies the viewer and shows hin the shere variety of a single colour. With this Martin not only proves his importance for art's theoretical debates but also as a monochrome working artist.