ABOUT THE ARTIST
Martin, Petros, Canadian, b. 1951__________
Residence and Atelier: Toronto, Canada
Tel: 416-744-0635
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INTRODUCING THE ARTIST
Petros Martin has attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome and Venice from 1975 to 1980 and he dedicated his studies and training in sculpture.Being educated in the cradle of Western culture has left a lasting impression in his work. In fact his consummate passion for drawing and his persistent search for pure form are a constant reminder of the influence of the great masters. By the sheer magic of few lines (a remnant of his training in sculpture) he combines the massive and delicate form of the subject with the textured abstract background, harmonizing thus the figurative with the abstract in well-balanced and indelible canvases. His minimalized conceptualism is an attempt to blend the grace and sensuality of the Renaissance masters with the many facets of contemporary abstract expressionism. In my opinion the classic and the contemporary do meet in Martin's work. And this is not an easy task to be accomplished.
Since 1986 Martin has settled in Toronto, where he lives and continues to work. His art has found the favour of many art collectors and he is making his mark in the art world with his figurative paintings executed in an abstract style.
Helga Zanders, Curator
STATEMENT
Though the texture of my work is profoundly influenced by the colors of late Renaissance frescos and modern art, the content of my art never abandons the indelible image of the human form in all its aspects of life. Thus in my canvases the aesthetic line -- a remnant of my sculpture training -- tends to dominate over texture. Nevertheless, I'm constantly searching to blend content and form in a style that ranges from "minimal representationalism" to the effervescent, evanescent blurring line of the modern - or what I deem to be -- two-dimensional "imagism".Due to the subject matter of my art, I am compelled to follow the categorical imperative of the transitory, infinitesimal moment of human existence. In my paintings I celebrate our "human condition" in which the trite, insignificant, most-oblivious moment of our existence is juxtaposed to the most profound and metaphysical one. And side by side I attempt to unravel the profane as well as the divine that is in us; the authenticity of our being and the empirical dimension of our existence;distress and ecstasy; fear and serenity; evil and goodness. Such is the human condition, and this is my art: an intuitive synchronism of content and form attempting to capture the ephemeral existential moment in space and time. In my endeavours I've always attempted to "mediate" the phenomenon rather than searching for the ultimate truth; the enigma of life is the gods' domain.
Petros Martin, 1995
