Chris Martin

For his third exhibition at the Anton Kern Gallery, Chris Martin presents a number of new, large-scale paintings, inspired by the gallery’s two-story atrium and the artist’s new upstate painting studio.

Chris Martin is something of a New York institution. His Brooklyn studio floor radiates with years of glitter traces and paint stains. He approaches every canvas with a deep knowledge and respect of the medium’s history. There is a sense of joy in his work; particularly in the iconic glitter pieces. Martin loves painting, and wants you to love painting too. He balances the glitter against vibrant fields of color, collaged images, and fearless gestures. There is a physical practicality to this approach, and Martin uses his whole body when making work. He can often be found literally in the painting—stepping onto the canvas and working on the surface from within it. It’s not uncommon for traces of his footprints to appear. 

This freewheeling enthusiasm is derived, in part, from the artist’s connection to the musical counterculture of the 1970s. A young, upside-down Bob Dylan appears in one large painting, floating and grooving in a cosmic skyscape. There is also an undeniably mystical element to the paintings. The planets, musicians, and mind-altering substances that populate the surfaces of his work allude to the human search for spirituality. Glitter itself embodies the reflective nature of the mirrored surface, a popular element in religious traditions across the world. In another painting, an Egyptian god appears on gold paint (the first time Martin has used this material); suggesting a kind of universal spiritual connection throughout place and time. The work is also grounded in reference to landscape, and the organic quality of Martin’s imagery and brushstrokes can be traced to his connection with nature. Though Martin has become an integral and longtime fixture among New York artists, he has a life-long relationship with the Catskill mountains, where he has been spending summers since childhood, and now has a second studio. His painted gestures suggest the mountain roads, and invoke physical and even cosmic expanses.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with the release of a new major monograph, Chris Martin: Paintings. The book was published by Skira in conjunction with Anton Kern Gallery and David Kordansky Gallery. It features essays by Trinie Dalton, Glenn O’Brien and Nancy Princenthal and 170 full-color illustrations spanning over 40 years of the artist’s career. The artist will be signing books during the opening reception. 

Chris Martin (b. 1954, Washington D.C.) is an American painter who lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. His work is included in  the collections of the Albright Knox Art Gallery, Buffalo; the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam; the Corcoran Gallery  of Art, Washington D.C.; the High Museum, Atlanta; the MCA Chicago; and the SF MoMA, San Francisco, among others. Recent  solo exhibitions include the Sommer Gallery, Tel Aviv; VNH Galerie, Paris; and The Tennis Elbow, New York (all 2017). Recent group exhibitions include Animal Farm, curated by Sadie Laska, The Brant Foundation, Greenwich, CT; Drawing Island, The Journal Gallery, New York, NY; and Thinking Out Loud: Notes For An Evolving Collection, The Warehouse, Dallas, TX (all 2017).