Will Martyr - A World Elsewhere

“There is something exquisitely contradictory about the mountains. They can be a brutal and unforgiving environment, so cold, so remote, yet so beautiful, so vast, so breath taking, so tranquil. We are not supposed to be here like this, certainly not at lunch. It’s an environment so alien to everyday banalities. Nature has been tamed to provide us with a dazzlingly and alluring playground for recreation and indulgence at the top of the world.

In this most recent body of work, I aim to create paintings that portray the moments that have evoked senses of tranquillity and fulfilment in the mountains. Ultimately, the painted locations and scenarios are places where we have loved, laughed, and made our own memories. These paintings are a portal to those places. The human form is absent, but they are full of humanity. We will return to experience these unique sensations and when we can’t, we can look at these paintings and be transported. It is not important where they are but the remembered feeling they induce. The paintings act like stage sets; ones where the action is about to or has just taken place. The lack of figures allows the viewer to enter the scene and import their memories.

Chairs rest in trampled snow as though in conversation, contemplating the impossible beauty of the location. They are waiting to embrace new visitors. They invite us to join. There are also moments of anticipation occurring when marvelling at the almost wilfully constructed, chaotic sculptural collection of skis and poles outside a mountain restaurant. Some lean precariously, some stand to attention other discarded on the floor. A riot of colour in the otherwise blinding white environment. Skis clack and click, adding noise to this organically enlarging mass of humanity. Like a writhing animal it emerges at lunch and gradually recedes into the afternoon. In my paintings, these forever-changing sculptures are caught in a moment.”

Written by Artist: Will Martyr

FEBRUARY - 25 MARCH 2023

GSTAAD

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Will Martyr was born in Eastbourne in the United Kingdom in 1980. At the age of 18, he was accepted into the prestigious Slade School of Fine Art in London. During his time at The Slade, the artist experimented with colour, drawing on influences from Ellsworth Kelly, Josef Albers and Richard Diebenkorn. Martyr calls himself a colourist to this day.

Following his time at The Slade, Martyr moved to New York to live and work. The city inspired him with its diverse and rich art scene and its juxtaposition of architectural genres and scale. This fed into Martyr’s early architectural paintings. Martyr returned to London in 2005 to complete his education at the Royal College of Art. He still lives and works in London today.

Martyr’s illustrious education has had a profound effect on his practice. From the unconventional shape of his circular canvases, named tondos, to the hard-edged qualities of his painting, reminiscent of Pop-Art, Modernism and Italian Futurism, his artwork is heavily influenced by the history of art. Will Martyr’s subject matter often features natural landscapes: windows into utopian environments, fragments of interiors and narrative cut-outs.

BIOGRAPHY

‘THESE WORKS TAKE MANY HUNDREDS OF HOURS TO PRODUCE. ONCE I HAVE DECIDED ON THE COMPOSITION, I MAKE THE PREPARATORY PENCIL DRAWING ON THE SURFACE OF THE CANVAS. THEN, EACH INDIVIDUAL SHAPE IS MASKED OFF AND THEN PAINTED IN UNIQUE COLOURS.’ WILL MARTYR