Drawing on inspirations ranging from Buddhism and American modernist painting to psychedelia and Amy Winehouse, Brooklyn-based painter Chris Martin (born 1954) “lets the paintings make themselves,” with often generously scaled canvases characterized by flat yet textured planes of bright, saturated color, frequently incorporating found materials and highly personal paper ephemera. The emphatic geometries of his paintings, which indicate his attachment to Piet Mondrian, are another signature touch, conveying a genially brash New York energy (Martin’s practice came of age in 1980s New York, which saw the explosion of the East Village art scene, led by Keith Haring). This first full overview on Martin collects essays by Glenn O’Brien, Nancy Princenthal, Trinie Dalton and Dan Nadel.
