17 November - 12 December 2012

milford galleries queenstown9A Earl Street (03) 442 6896 qtown@milfordgalleries.co.nz

www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

Paul MartinsonNatural Space

Antipodean Light (2012)oil on canvas, stretcher: 850 x 500 x 37 mm1

Cat Thrill (2012)acrylic on board, frame: 870 x 1292 x 60 mm2

Screamer Dreamer Misdemeanor (2012)oil on canvas, stretcher: 455 x 358 x 20 mm3

The Landing of Venus (2012)watercolour, watercolour pencil & gouache on paper, frame: 796 x 980 x 60 mm 4

Electric Dream Forest (2012)acrylic, watercolour & gouache on paper, frame: 960 x 1240 x 60 mm5

Glass Case Adventurers (2012)oil on canvas, stretcher: 837 x 607 x 34 mm 6

Three Minute Timer (2012)oil on board, frame: 822 x 426 x 46 mm 7

Mechanica (2012)oil on canvas, stretcher: 850 x 500 x 37 mm 8

The birds in Paul Martinson’s paintings are not of this world: they are packaged in

crates, fly on metal wings, they are confined in bell jars and glass vitrines, and dangle

from light bulb cords. The surrealism of the settings combines with the accuracy of his

portraiture to create works that are unnerving and thought-provoking.

Martinson has always been interested in surrealist ideas of the freedom of the

subconscious and its place in the artistic process. The otherworldliness of Electric

Dream Forest brings together accurate and beautifully executed depictions of birds,

including the saddleback and kakariki, with the completely irrational: a field of

lightbulbs complete with swimming tropical fish. There seems neither rhyme nor

reason for bringing together such disparate subjects, but the precision of Martinson’s

composition and drawing presents the uncommon as something matter-of-fact, and

the viewer has no choice but to examine the relationships between what is ‘real’

and what is not.

Using this juxtaposition of the expected and the unexpected, Martinson also

continues to address concerns about the environmental impact of human

settlement on New Zealand’s birdlife in this new body of works. The extinction of the

huia resonates with New Zealanders and in Glass Case Adventurers Martinson

pointedly depicts a huia pair, along with the South Island kokako, in the only way we

could now ever see them in real life – under glass and frozen in time. Screamer

Dreamer Misdemeanour shows the bird as a commodity, packaged up for an Empire

that valued its tail feathers for hat trimmings and its beaks as brooches.

The artist couches his uncomfortable messages in lush pictures, using the finest of

brushstrokes to create a soft, dreamy atmosphere. The mechanical wings of the kea

and the angular landscape of Mechanica are not hard and unyielding, but take on

a smooth, velvety texture due to Martinson’s delicate hatching and layering of tone

on tone. The rich brown of the background sky is figured with the irregular pleats and

folds of creased tissue or fabric, enhancing the incongruity of the painting’s subject.

The bright green of the kea’s plumage, the only ‘real’ element in the work, seems

anything but natural in such a setting.

As always, the questions and concerns Paul Martinson raises in his paintings are

couched in a framework of delicate line, shading and colour, initially drawing the

eye, then engaging the mind.

All prices are NZD and include GST; Prices are current at the time of the exhibition

E X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S TE X H I B I T I O N P R I C E L I S T

1 Antipodean Light (2012) 6,500

2 Cat Thrill (2012) 9,000

3 Screamer Dreamer Misdemeanor (2012) 3,750

4 The Landing of Venus (2012) 7,000

5 Electric Dream Forest (2012) 8,500

6 Glass Case Adventurers (2012) 6,500

7 Three Minute Timer (2012) 5,500

8 Mechanica (2012) 6,000

Paul Martinson 2012 CV milford galleries queenstown www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 1

PAUL MARTINSON b. 1956, lives Masterson

Electric Dream Forest (2012)

“Martinson believes we are, at any time the sum of our entire experience which includes on

one hand the connections we make throughout our life with all other creatures on the planet,

even fleetingly (this comprises the great range of relationships we make), everyday

experience, and the swirling, interlocking personal reality of our subconscious, and all that it

comprises.” (1)

Martinson’s work is “out of the ordinary, ethereal and often edgy, with a greater emphasis on

the psychological, the sensual and the sexual.” (2)

“Martinson has created a new aesthetic in which meticulous attention to detail, rich surface

texture and beauty co-exists with a definitive and individual point of view.” (3) Martinson, born 1956, lives in Masterton. Prior to taking up painting as a full time career in 1987,

he worked as a science technician for DSIR (Department of Scientific and Industrial Research).

In 2004 Martinson was commissioned by Te Papa Tongarewa to paint New Zealand’s extinct

birdlife, resulting in the publication, Extinct Birds of New Zealand, which was published in 2006.

In 2007 Martinson exhibited a series of new works, marking a significant change of direction in

his painting and drawing practice.

1. Paul Martinson, Artist Statement, 2010

2. Kim Atherfold, ‘Paul Martinson: Sleep and Trance’, catalogue essay, 2007

3. Ibid

Paul Martinson 2012 CV milford galleries queenstown www.milfordgalleries.co.nz

P a g e | 2

PAUL MARTINSON b. 1956, lives Masterson

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2012 Natural Space, milford galleries queenstown

Electric Zoo, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland

2011 Dream Swimmers, milford galleries queenstown

2010 Mellomania, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland

2009 A Freudian Slip, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland

2007 Sleep and Trance, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

2006 Te Papa Tongarewa's Extinct Birds of New Zealand publication launch with accompanying

exhibition entitled New Work.

2004 Creatures Recreated, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

2002 Tide, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

2001 Colours of the Wild, Ferner Galleries, Wellington

2000 Rare and Threatened Birds, Ferner Galleries, Auckland SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2012 Figures in the Landscape, Waiheke Art Gallery, Auckland

The Surreal, Milford Galleries Dunedin

2009 Advent, Sanderson Contemporary Art, Auckland

2009 The Inimitable Mister Hopkins: The Barry Hopkins Art Collection, Waikato Museum of Art & History,

Hamilton

2009 Mindgames: Surrealism in Aotearoa, Hastings City Art Gallery, Hastings

2008 Outsider Art, Ferner Galleries, Taupo

2007 Wairarapa Review, Aratoi, Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton

2007 Chatham Islands, Southland Museum

2007 Auckland Art Fair, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

2005 Wairarapa Review, Aratoi, Wairarapa Museum of Art and History, Masterton

2003 Modern Landscapes, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

2002 Crosslinks, Pataka Museum of Art, Porirua

2002 Grids and Crosses, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

2001 Icons and Kiwiana, Ferner Galleries, Auckland

1994 Real Vision, Robert McDougall Gallery Christchurch

1993 Huia, Temanawa, Manawatu Art Gallery touring exhibition

AWARDS & COMMISSIONS

2008 Wai Art Awards - Runner Up

2007 Montana Book Awards, ‘Extinct Birds of New Zealand’ – Finalist

2003 Norsewear Art Awards - Finalist

1994 North Shore City Art Awards - Runner Up

COLLECTIONS

Te Papa Tongarewa, Museum of New Zealand (Fifty-eight (58) paintings in watercolour portraying New

Zealand's extinct birds) BIBLIOGRAPHY 2010 McNamara, TJ, ‘More Than a Touch of Strangeness', Auckland Herald, October 2010.

Thornber, Lorna, ‘Bird’s-eye View’, Her Magazine, November 2010, Issue 121, p 116-119.

2009 Atherfold, Kim, Venus in Free Fall: The Art of Paul Martinson 2004 – 2008. Dissertation completed

at Auckland, University, Art History Department.

2008 Atherfold, Kim, 'Paul Martinson's work on Aluminium', NZ Art Monthly, March 2008.

2007 Atherfold, Kim, Paul Martinson: Sleep and Trance, catalogue, Ferner Galleries, Auckland.

2006 Martinson, Paul and Alan Tennyson, Extinct Birds of New Zealand, TePapa Press, Wellington.

1991 Martinson, Paul, New Zealand Birds, Grantham House, Auckland.

1991 Gill, Brian and Paul Martinson, New Zealand's Extinct Birds, Random Century, Auckland.