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“Between Tides”

Chris Martin has rarely produced a landscape painting without visiting and experiencing a place first. He will kayak through a tangled mangrove swamp or trek through the dunes at Ningaloo to find the scene which impacts him most strongly. He will then carry its story through the sometimes convoluted process of creating an artwork. It is an honest and authentic approach which involves him directly with the landscape.

Australian painting has a long history of exploring the unique character of the landscape, from the sunlit impressions of Arthur Streeton to the softer, brooding beauty of a Frederick McCubbin bush scene, often tinged with a slightly threatening quality. Martin’s work has that same depth - it is a depth which only comes with spending time immersed in the environment. He is Western Australian born and bred, and has an understanding of the edgy coolness of the Southern Ocean and the shimmering heat from the endless coastal dunes. The sea, to him, is a place that is, to varying degrees, inviting, foreboding, astounding and sublime.

The Pilbarra images are equally developed. Martin speaks of capturing the variations of light in the desert - the difference in tone when the air is still moist in the early morning, to the bleached out oranges and siennas of midday, harsh and stark. There is a complex and subtle visual play in his landscapes, but the bodily and emotive effects of an environment are not lost on Martin. The “Yardi Creek, Pilbarra” work has its viewpoint from the edge of a cliff. It was a vertigo inducing moment for Martin, and a hint of that is suggested in the image. Other pieces, such as “The Ocean Returned”, conversely, have a very low center of gravity. No line of sky is visible and a wave rises in a translucent blue frontage. These are very deliberate devices to immerse the viewer, visually and emotionally.

Each work in “Between Tides” captures a moment. It captures a point in time in a way that a photographic snapshot can not. Martin will often wait and wait for the right time and place. A particular mangrove tree or rock which stands out in a certain cast of light. It is a search for a beautiful image which will gradually become timeless as he works with it further in his studio. His aim is that some of the passion for what he knows of the Western Australian landscape is transformed into a feeling of intensity in his works.