Art & Culture 1
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Earth Hymns
A Conversation with Martyn Ratio 3 // September 10, 2021 - October 30, 2021 Written by: Sasha Bogojev
There is a great deal of intimacy, mystery,
well as themes that occupy his mind.
curiosity, and intensity in the delicately
There were a number of artists we’ve
crafted works by Martyn Cross, whose
been obsessing over here at Juxtapoz,
first solo exhibition outside of the United
whose practice involves reworking the
Kingdom is currently running its final
same motifs time and time again. Cross
week at Ratio 3. Earth Hymns comprises
is certainly one of those, as his work
a substantial body of moody paintings
revolves around the few ideas that he
as well as works on paper, through
tends to experiment with. Through slight
which the Bristol-based artist explores
compositional changes, use of different
the technical aspects of his practice as
shades of earthy hues, and interchange
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of
elements
between
concepts,
his
Built from gentle caresses of a dry brush,
visuals keep changing and developing,
and using a stylized, almost drawing
basically living their own lives. The result
or
of such a process is an exceptionally
they feel like a selection of pages from
coherent body of work within which each
an ancient manuscript rather than a
image adds to the next one, and their
painting
reading correlates with the exposure to
surreal panoramas coming to life as
his oeuvre. To put it simply - the more
faces of stunned elders, and broken
you see, the more you connect with it.
figures
And during that process, each individual
with their giant bodies. Probably hiding
painting goes through a number of
a great, profound message behind the
phases and changes, resulting with a
assortments of symbols and forms, they
precious appearance of a finished piece.
seem to invite the viewer to go through
even
text
writing-like
exhibition.
forming
approach,
Anthropomorphic
peculiar
landscapes
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and place and feeds on our minds and memories. Whilst the exhibition certainly isn’t about Lanny specifically, it chimed with the themes I’m currently exploring in my paintings and the idea that we are just mud with eyeballs and feelings. I guess in some ways I see each painting as a song and together the exhibition forms a choir.
Can you tell me a bit about the technical them over and over again, until some sort
aspect of your work and what draws you
of narrative might start revealing itself.
towards creating such intricate surfaces?
As instant fans of the work but not quite
“ I see the paintings
certain about what we’re looking at, we got in touch with Cross and had a brief conversation about this particular body of work and what led to the process.
Sasha : What’s the idea behind the title of the show and is your overall body of work connected in that direction? Martyn Cross: The title Earth Hymns suggested itself after re-reading Max Porter’s novel Lanny. One of the main characters Dead Papa Toothwort isn’t actually a human, he’s more a living thing that is nothing and everything all at once he’s phlegmy globs of litter, oozing sticky tar and the sting of a nettle. He spans time 6
equally as objects as much as I do paintings. They are things that in their creation are held and caressed and physically roughedup, all with the intention of creating some kind of surface history.
“
It’s also important for me to make
What sort of influences inform your
the canvases from scratch to imbue
practice and how do you work around
them
that
with
before
even
my
own
physicality
of
inspiration?
Influences come from anywhere and
What about the paint application and
everywhere, although my predilections
manipulation
images
evolve and mutate over time and I’ll
feel very frail yet part of the canvas..
naturally succumb to certain obsessions.
The paint itself is applied with a dry brush
The works in Earth Hymns are channelled
and layers form before I then bother
from a range of sources: medieval wall
the
sandpaper
paintings, gargoyles, emojis, the Happy
and other dangerous looking tools. In
Mondays… But predominantly the thing
the end I want the surface to hum or
that usually kick-starts it all will be reading
vibrate. I like things that look as if they’ve
works of fiction. The way an author
seen a life. Some people like box-fresh
structures a sentence or a paragraph
trainers - I prefer my kicks well-worn.
can have lasting impressions, cropping
process?
further
to
moment
paint.
surface
starting
initial
The
with
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