Martha Mans
New Mexico landscapes
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505.820.0807 call or text • art@owencontemporary.com
Artist Statement
Martha Mans AWS
Martha Mans at the Canyon Road Paint Out
“As you can see from my work I am fixated on textures. This is more apparent in my newer paintings. My thoughts when I am painting are about the naturally textured land of New Mexico. I translate those impressions into patterned surfaces when I apply the paint with my brush and palette knife. It is important for me to paint with a more primitive energy by using large expressive brush strokes. Through this energy, the rhythms of the land begin to emerge and create the quiet voices that speak to me as I paint.”
“New Mexico is a land of earthy colors and textures. Rocks, dirt, twiggy plants, reds and ochres against blue grays, dry, wet, cold, hot, hard and rough create a movement in visual and tactile rhythms that surround me. There are times when I am standing in the New Mexico landscape on a warm day when I want to lay down and embrace it. I can’t help but be madly in love with the textures of everything around me. I am drawn to the irresistible forces that seem to bring me closer to the earth. The more I experience these textural qualities of the land, the more I am compelled to use them to express what I want to say.”
All great landscape artists take the time to observe their subject and internalize it until they have something to express on their canvases that is totally and uniquely theirs. Anytime I choose to paint, weather it is in New Mexico or Italy and France, I like to find the elements, no matter how small, that speak of the particular qualities that express the uniqueness of that particular subject. It can be just the warmness or coolness of the light or the rhythm of the elements in the foreground. Sometimes it is the small things in the landscape or subject, that many fail to see, that I like to discover and that add just the right note to my painting.
I have lived in New Mexico where the weather and seasonal conditions are always creating dramatic and changing effects on the mountains, valleys and mesas. I have also traveled extensively in Italy and France immersing myself in the culture of both countries. I find that the most familiar of landmarks, wherever you are, constantly take on different elements that can be fleeting and you only see that one time. It is always fun to discover those moments and use them as an inspiration for a painting.
I also want the viewer to spend time with my paintings discovering qualities that on first observation might be missed. So, I like to use the rhythm of the different elements of shape, line, tonal value and color to bring them into each painting, giving them the experience of discovery that I felt as I was creating the painting.
Rhythm is a very important element in my paintings. I treat it in a very musical way. The rhythm of the painting is very much like playing wonderful music. There are runs, pauses, small notes and repetitions along the way into and in the viewing of each of my paintings. I try for a sense of a physical movement as I guide the viewer into the landscape or subject I have chosen to paint.
Born: Canonsburg, PA
Education:
Carlow College, BA Degree, Pittsburgh, PA
Maryland Institute College Of Art, Baltimore, MD
University Of Southern California, Long Beach, CA