Martinez - review

The pride of the artisan in his art and its uses is pride in himself .. It is in his skill and ability to make things as he wishes them to be that he rejoices."

"I ' m a maker ... that ' s what I was born to do. I make things." So says Chester County artist Adrian Martinez as he invites you to enjoy a cup of tea at a sturdy yet beautiful well-hewn table that he has made. "It's my hands... working with tools, not technology." He reaches for the cups in a kas, a cabinet that traditionally was part of a Dutch woman's dowry. His hands have expertly crafted this piece much like the Holland masters did in the early 1700s. "It's work. Work makes you better." So much better, it fact, that it even graced a White House Christmas card.

Indeed it is his work both functional and beautiful that graces the Victorian home he shares with his wife Leah and their son Sebastian in the borough of Downingtown. A nationally known artist, Martinez's work includes portraits, still lifes, landscapes, and historical paintings which combines a classical technique with an intensely emotional vision. Not a vision of sugar plum fairies, but a vision of a White Christmas in oil that subtly captures the serenity of that first Christmas so long ago.

Still life paintings have always been an important part of Martinez's work. Influenced by 17th century Dutch and Spanish masters, Martinez has developed a unique blend of emotionalism and technical mastery that mark him as an individual in the true Renaissance tradition. Look at the work of Spanish still life painter Juan Sanchez Cotan, especially his Still Life with Dead Birds, Fruit and Vegetables (1602) and then at Martinez's Mercato Centrale. Look at the subdued, virtually monochromatic palette of Dutch painter Pieter Claesz (1617) and note the subtle handling of light and texture. It is the same means of expression found in Martinez's work.

"I paint my emotional response to the material world. It is not just a tree or a flower—it's my response. The more emotion, the more meaningful I can make it. Meaning is the bottom line." Then more to himself, he asks, "What is the meaning of this emotion?" This thinking out loud as he experiments with light or explores new ideas may be an echo of his childhood years and the stiff but detailed drawings he did as he struggled to capture the things of his young world. His mother saved his earliest ones that not surprisingly depicted cowboys, soldiers, and Indians ... and not surprisingly foreshadowed a life of inspired creativity to come.

Martinez was born in Philadelphia but grew up poor in Washington, D.C. where he fed on a steady diet of sardine sandwiches. "I was a thug," he admits with a smile. "But I found refuge in the museums of the Smithsonian Institute." There he felt safe, free to develop his growing love of art and history. He graduated from high school the hard way, grappling with dyslexia and the humiliation that often accompanies it. He went on to study painting at the Maryland Institute of Art in Baltimore, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He would have dropped out if it were not for English professor Dr. Bill Kinter and John Sutton, Dean of Students, who saw intelligence and potential in the young Martinez and encouraged him to pursue his craft.

A lifelong learner, Martinez found the means to study at St. Martins School of Art in London where, with some difficulty, he earned a Certificate of Studies. "It was tough, often painful. I went from abstract to realism. But I did it. I am not a fragile artist."

His travels and study of art throughout Europe was an epiphany, one that flew in the face of his contemporaries and the mainstream work they were doing. The 'thug' remained steadfast and dedicated to the 'new' style of the old masters, but he realized there was much more to learn. He went back to school, earning a Master of Arts degree in painting and printmaking from Purdue University in Indiana.

The prints he creates use essentially the same classic techniques as Rembrandt. He etches or engraves the plate, then inks and prints each impression using a hand-operated press. The results are stunning and worthy of the masters Mantegna and Durer. Martinez has reproduced some of his more popular paintings for the mass market, yet another Renaissance influence.

For a time he was a teacher, and then the exhibit designer for the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth , Texas . "I designed installations for some of the greatest Renaissance, Impressionist, and Asian art in the world." Then he takes you into his confidence. "Remember I said I have dyslexia? Well, I couldn't figure out the math involved necessary to gauge how low from the ceiling to hang the priceless treasures entrusted to me. So I memorized the sizes of all the paintings... they're all pretty much standard, and I memorized the distance each should be from the ceiling. The unpacker would holler out the size and I would quickly say 'Three feet down from the top, fourteen inches over.’"

A disciplined artist who claims to have a short attention span, he calls himself a modern day caveman. "I don't fit in this time. Like I said, I'm not fragile. I'm a weed—tough. All my heroes are in the Renaissance." He singles out Titian, the 16th century leader of the Venetian school of the Italian Renaissance, who was equally adept with portraits and landscapes, and Donatello, another Italian master of sculpture in both marble and bronze.

You walk with him the short distance from his back porch to the cramped studio which houses completed works and those in progress to see what he has been talking about. There they are—canvasses teeming with color and life.

Hanging from hooks are objects foreign and domestic that you recognize as the subjects of some of his paintings. There's the skull so prominent in Turban Squash & Skull. You question the disparity, and he tells you he is interested in the drama inherent in the minute details of their texture, color, and shape. But most importantly, he says that he is interested in the drama inherent in the relationship these objects have to each other.

Like his Renaissance heroes, he depicts a few simple fruits or vegetables arranged on a ledge or shelf with an almost geometric clarity standing out against a dark background. Some of his paintings take on a mystical quality conveying a feeling of wonder at the beauty found in the humblest of God's creations. His Peaceable Kingdom, an unlikely group of farmyard animals at Pennsbury Manor, is a noteworthy example. It was his first version of the Biblical passage "...And the lion shall lay down with the lamb...” His second version is White Christmas, which he says "is clearly a fantasy. I had been thinking about doing a painting using only white or albino animals in the snow surrounded by a midnight sky for several years."

White Christmas and twenty-five other oils can be seen in his solo holiday exhibition—Adrian Martinez: People, Places, and Things—hosted by the Chester County Art Association (CCAA), a non-profit, contemporary art center at 100 North Bradford Avenue in West Chester. The exhibit runs from December 2nd to December 22nd with an opening reception on Thursday, November 30th, 5:00-8:00 p.m.

One painting in particular, Portrait of Sebastian, the artist's son, is also worthy of note. "I remember Sebastian when he was so small I could cradle him in one arm. Now," says Martinez,"he's fourteen-years-old, six-feet tall, and on the verge of manhood. I wanted to do an old-fashioned portrait of him before he takes the next step." He paints the young man surrounded by things he loves and includes a family crest designed by Sebastian himself.

The son says this when asked about his famous father: "I must admit that I don't look very closely at my father's work often because it is part of my every day life and having beautiful works of art draped on every bit of available wall space is 'normal,' but when I look closely at his paintings, it really amazes me ... I know how he paints; all he has is a bunch of colors and a jar full of tiny brushes and yet with those seemingly limited tools he can create so many varied and beautiful paintings. I step back," Sebastian says, "and I say Wow! My dad is an amazing person."

Martinez has had exhibits throughout the United States and has

won many important commissions, including a painting - Second

Floor Corridor with Cassatt's "Mother and Two Children" - which First

Lady Laura Bush selected for the 2001 White House Christmas

card. "I enjoy the challenge of a commission," says Martinez, who

was completely bowled over by the graciousness of the First Lady

and her kindness to his son and wife on their White House visit

and private luncheon. Photo provided by the Daily Local News

Martinez has had exhibits throughout the United States and has won many important commissions, including a painting—Second Floor Corridor with Cassatt's "Mother and Two Children" --which First Lady Laura Bush selected for the 2001 White House Christmas card. "I enjoy the challenge of a commission," says Martinez, who was completely bowled over by the graciousness of the First Lady and her kindness to his son and wife on their White House visit and private luncheon. The Bushes, much taken with his work, have his elaborate drawings of their favorite geographic areas in the Camp David mountain retreat cabins.

He is currently at work on many projects, but one in particular has his undivided attention—a book tentatively titled The Works Talk: The Golden Age of Oil Painting. He explains that it is a scholarly show-and-tell of five paintings of the masters and his "deep studies" of them.

He walks you back to his house and you pass under a clothesline loaded with fluttering hanky-sized flags. He says they are lung tas, "wind horses," Tibetan prayer flags. This six-foot 'thug,' this 'caveman,' this latter-day Renaissance Man tells you that the prayers contained on the flag are carried out to all beings as a blessing, reminding them to pray for the welfare of all people and to work to bring about virtue, goodness, healing, and happiness in the world. This artist is quite a guy, quite a humanitarian, and quite a maker.

A part of Adrian Martinez's soul will be on display. Don't miss it. And don't miss all the other exhibits, events, and activities that are routinely offered by the CCAA. In its 75th year, the Association, with over 1,300 members, just keeps getting bigger and better. From its early days when it was known as the Sketch Club to its halcyon days of the present, the CCAA continues to live and breathe its mission: that art does make a difference. And to that end it has enhanced the community it serves by involving people of all ages and aspirations in the arts since 1931.

Today that mission is overseen by Darcie Goldberg, the CCAA’s vivacious Executive Director. For the past ten years she has led a small staff of equally dedicated individuals to very big accomplishments. Goldberg lights up when she talks about the CCAA. She knows its history, its artists, its teachers, and its role in the community. "I'm all about hard work, taking risks, and thinking outside the box," she says, her Development Director, Paul Andreas, nodding in agreement.

She is unassuming as she recounts her place in an organization with such a rich history. "My involvement with the CCAA is minute, and I realize that it takes many people to preserve the vitality of the CCAA. Everyone makes a difference, and we need to work together." She leans forward, sitting at the edge of her chair. "I heard an artist refer once to the CCAA as being the soul of the community, bringing it to life. That's what I believe, and that's why I love coming to work here every day."

Says Goldberg, "I don't think there is a career more struggling and rewarding at the same time as the arts. The artists' passion comes through their artwork. They share their dreams, fears, sorrows, desires, and aspirations with the viewers. They tell stories and record events. Generations to come will learn about us through the artwork we leave behind."

It is that sharing of the artists' vision—one soul talking to another—that has led to an impressive outreach program whose tentacles stretch well beyond its Bradford Avenue base. The numbers speak for themselves:

They don't just do it at the CCAA, they do it well. Since its founding by N.C. Wyeth, Christian Brinton, and William Palmer Lear, the CCAA has won many awards. Most recently it garnered the 2006 Art & Business Partnership Award presented by the Arts & Business Council of Greater Philadelphia for the collaboration with the Exton Square Mall that created the Exton Square Studio. Classes fill with lightning speed ranging from Crayon Crackle Painting to Impressionist Landscape and are offered at all age and ability levels. Exhibits are displayed year round.

"There are many other events and achievements that I want you to know about," says Glenda K. Brion, President of the CCAA’s Board of Directors. "We won two 2nd Prize Awards in the Container Category at the Philadelphia Flower Show. Darcie Goldberg was recognized as a 2006 Educator 500 presented by the College of Education at West Chester University. This past May we placed seventy-five planters around the county."

Brion alludes to the "Growing the Arts" program which inspired county artists to design and paint the planters and county garden clubs to plant and maintain them as public art. The planters were auctioned off at the Exton Square Studio in October, proceeds benefiting the CCAA's many outreach programs like the one in Kennett Square that offered free art classes to nearly 100 kids and a score of adults. "They come back year after year," says Goldberg, "because we offer a welcoming place, an accepting place. We ' re part of the community, not just an art center."

She and Andreas get the word out in a variety of ways from word of mouth to fundraisers to exhibits like the one featuring the genius of Adrian Martinez. A visit to the CCAA in December is a holiday gift sure to please.

Adrian Martinez says he viewed a 15th-century painting when he was 9, and it changed his life.

When Adrian Martinez was 9, he went to the National Gallery near his home in Washington and got scared stiff.

He went into a room and chanced on a small painting he had not seen in other visits, The Death of St. Anthony, by the Italian painter Stefano di Giovanni, better known simply as Sassetta (circa 1390-1450).

"I got a case of the vapors," he said as he stood recently in his dining room in Downingtown, recalling that day in 1958.

"My face turned red - very scary - and I ran out of the room, feeling light-headed."

Martinez edged back to the doorway, he recalled, looked at the painting, "and it happened again."

What seized him was nothing horrific. What had happened, he said, was just that the painting "was so powerful in its simplicity, in its colors and shapes."

And in that "eureka!" moment, he said, "I realized that ' s what art is, that ' s what art does.

What the painter has done recently is now in a one-person show, which opened on Dec. 1 and runs through Dec. 22 at the Chester County Art Association in West Chester.

The Martinez dining room is graced by a 2-by-3-foot portrait of his son, Sebastian, now 14, and the son ' s friend Brie.

"Sebastian was this clueless little kid" at 11, when the work was painted, and Brie "watched out and cared for him."

"I grew up in this bad, bad place in D.C., right in the middle of the city, Second and F, between Union Station and the White House, 10 blocks from the White House."

And, he said, "to survive all that violence, I had to put some kind of meaning, some kind of honor, into my life."

Fortunately, there were places in D.C. beyond Second and F. Not long after his epiphany at the National Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution opened an exhibit on the American Indian.

And there he realized what he needed to survive, and became "a warrior with a code."

For the first portion of his life, he said, there was only "fighting, fighting, fighting."

Then, with a bachelor ' s degree in fine arts from the Maryland Institute College of Art, Martinez earned advanced degrees in fine arts from Purdue University and the former St. Martin ' s School of Art in London.

For eight years, he was an exhibit designer at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth.

"My job was to be around great art and design exhibits around it. People thought I was insane when I left."

But for the last 20 years, he has survived primarily through his work as an artist. "It ' s feast or famine," he said. "Not many people can live like we do."

John Baker, chairman of the department of art at West Chester University and host of a previous Martinez show there, said in an interview that Martinez "plays a major role" among Chester County artists.

His work "does carry a really strong sense of place," Baker said. "Whether it be landscape or still life, he really captures" the mood and the moment.

The current show - "People, Places & Things," consisting of 29 paintings, most begun in the last 18 months - is dominated by three five-foot-tall works, one on each of three walls.

The Farewell Blessing, showing an Indian father embracing his son, consciously echoes the work of N.C. Wyeth.

"Since the Armory Show of 1913," Martinez said, "realism was considered dead. When I went to art school in the ' 60s, we were told that we couldn ' t like it or even respect it."

But he said that in his WCU show last year - "Where Two Worlds Meet: Quakers and Indians in Pennsylvania, 1700-1720" - his work was indebted to N.C. Wyeth.

Another of the largest works, Morning on the Brandywine, reflects his life with Leah, 45, his wife and business manager.

"I have this love affair with light," he said, and this work plays with light through foliage along what in life is the east branch of the Brandywine, bordering the Struble Trail, where he and Leah walk most days.

It is, he said, in the tradition of the 19th-century Hudson River school of artists.

"There ' s nothing more mediocre than trying to be original. I never do," he said with a nice contradictory twist, "because nobody paints like me."

The Adrian Martinez exhibit, "People, Places & Things," runs through Dec. 22 at the Chester County Art Association, 100 North Bradford Ave. in West Chester (610-696-5600). The hours are from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Free. At the gallery, Martinez will speak about his art on Thursday, Dec. 14, from 7 to 9 p.m. For more information, call 610-696-5600 or go to www.chescoart.org/

Martinez examines 'People, Places & Things '

By JOHN CHAMBLESS

Staff Writer

In View

WEST CHESTER - There's an unmistakable elegance in Adrian Martinez's work, and it's clearly evident in his solo show at the Chester County Art Association.

There's a wide range of subject matter in the 30 new and older paintings, giving a good cross-section of the artist's themes and inspirations.

You'll be drawn to the room-filling panorama "On the Brandywine," a tableau of wildlife and sun-dappled trees and water. It's a gorgeous scene that dominates one wall of the show.

Even when he tackles what you might consider an unattractive scene - open water and an undistinguished industrial horizon in "Battleship New Jersey" - Martinez gives the painting a glorious, luminous sky that dwarfs the boat of the title.

There are several fine small still lifes in the show. Particularly strong examples are "Eggs and Peaches," which gets the contrasting textures of the objects just right; and "Fishes, Crayfish and Limes," in which the dried cut surface of the lime echoes the leathery skin of the three dried fish.

Obviously, extensive observation and sketching preceded all these paintings, and the way Martinez captures stone and peeling paint in his floral still lifes is magical. Don’t overlook how the creeping vines in "The Gardener" have worked their way through the window from the lush garden outside

"The Farewell Blessing" is shown here after its debut at Martinez's solo show at West Chester University, and it still packs a punch - both emotionally and in the depth of research into Native American history it reflects.

The quiet dignity of Martinez's work is plain throughout the show, and you come away from "People, Places and Things" with a sense of the artist as a calm, careful observer who takes the time to truly understand his subjects and imbue them with a meaning that goes far beyond the limits of the frame.

The Chester County Art Association (100 N. Bradford Ave., West Chester) exhibits "Adrian Martinez: People, Places and Things" through Dec. 22. Gallery hours are Monday to Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is free. Call 610 696-5600 for more information.

Quiet, delicate, works show much flair

There's a heavy dose of nostalgia for the local past in Adrian Martinez's oil paintings at the Chester County Art Association.

The energy of many of Martinez's featured images is temporarily arrested by the stillness of the soft misty background atmosphere in them. No question that this Downingtown artist in mid-career has moved toward a quiet and more controlled visual experience of period flavor in country life, reflected in these area landscapes, still lifes and figure paintings of the last year and a half.

Martinez took that approach, too, in his carefully researched Quaker and American Indian history-painting series about primitive colonial settlement of this region that he displayed last year. Those unusual storytelling works are represented here by the series ' centerpiece portraying the symbolic departure of a father and son, "Farewell Blessing."

Martinez's various paintings in grayed tonalities are like delicate tracings of paint, hints and suggestions almost Asian in their evocation of atmospheric mood. Texture is smooth in these shadowy works, that include blooming iris, roses and a vase of tulips.

When he allows himself brighter colors - and such times are the exception here - the hues shimmer and reflect light, and the shapes he is portraying emerge surprisingly robust.

With or without the flicker or nudge of bright color (and I wonder why he doesn't use more brightness and sharp contrasts), it's art with an exuberant tenderness or a stark emotional quality, that makes his work surprisingly individual.

Martinez's paintings are personally touching in a way that can even transcend most of its dark intimations. This he does by giving an essential luminosity and resonance to his muted palette otherwise so strictly controlled in tone. A useful update on a gifted regional painter.

Chester County Art Association, 100 N Bradford Ave, West Chester. To Dec. 22. Mon-Sat 9:30-4. Free. 610-696-5600.

An artist's 'Eureka!' moment

Adrian Martinez says he viewed a 15th-century painting when he was 9, and it changed his life.

Quiet, delicate, works show much flair