ArtScene / Visual Art Source

February 2013 Issue

Review of Donald Martiny exhibition at George Lawson Gallery, LA, written by Cathy Breslaw.

Donald Martiny's recent paintings are monochromatic works whose medium is a mixture of polymer and dispersed pigment.  Though he calls them paintings, they appear much like sculptures, as each one is a three dimensional, very physical representation of a brushstroke.  Here, painting is both the subject and content of the work, examining and exploring the anatomy of the size dimensions, and contours of an individual stroke of the brush.  Each work depicts a particular motion of the brush, giving each gesture an individual character, shape and identity.  Martiny's color palette is limited to the use of primary red, yellow, green or blue.  The sole variation on the theme of the brush stroke is size.  the works are either very large (83" x 45") or much smaller.  A large work like "Pigeon Lake" not only occupies much more space, but is more effective in portraying the visual detail, marks, and nuances that a brushstroke creates.  Te sum of the parts here is greater than the whole- echoing the manner in which each brushstroke has key significance in the developmnent of a painting.  And every painting is created with intention, one stroke at a time.
(George Lawson Gallery, Culver City).