Additional Images

Provenance:

Private Collection, Toronto
Christopher Cutts Gallery, Toronto

Literature:

The Centre for Canadian Contemporary Art, Ron Martin, “Biography.”
Historica Canada, The Canadian Encyclopedia, “Ronald Albert Martin.” Online.

Note:

Ron Martin was born in London, Ontario in 1943 and is one of Canada’s most vibrant and creative artists. His first show, “Pop Collages” in 1963, was inspired by the collages of Dada artists Marcel Duchamp and Kurt Schwitters. The exhibit proved to be an intellectual endeavor as Martin attempted to solve a problem posed by Duchamp, explained by the Centre for Contemporary Canadian Art: “In response to a remark of Marcel Duchamp's about the ‘gap’ in representational painting between the subject (the thing painted) and the object (the painting itself), Martin sought to bridge this [gap] by making an abstract painting, creating an exact copy, and hanging the two together as a single work.” In 1964, Martin’s interest turned to Abstract Expressionism, an influence evident in his work not only visually, but through his process as well. Often, Martin placed arbitrary constraints on himself, such as limiting how many gallons of paint he could use for one painting, or conversely, experimenting with an excess of colour and paint.

Martin was awarded the Governor General’s Award in 2012.