Martin Paull, Bus Stop, 2024. Image courtesy of Brenton McGeachie
Martin Paull
Gallery 1A
Friday 23 February - Sunday 17 March
Opening Thursday 22 February 2024, 6pm - 8pm
The exhibition features finalist works from the Blake Prize for spiritual art (‘Assassination of a Saint’) and the Mission to Seafarers prize (‘The Drowned and the Saved’). Some works echo allegorical or literary themes[1]; (‘When I call, Answer Me’) (‘The Fencers’). Charcoal drawings recall (and anticipate) bushfires, figures grope and fall in overwhelming smoke.
There are miniature paintings, which invite intense observation and focused attention – this makes possible a strong connection with the art and the viewer.
Many works take inspiration from Canberra – urban scenes viewed from the car at night. The works are haunting; empty spaces, clear, cold Canberra air. Canberra’s planned landscape which at night is on a magnitude that tends towards the epic. Night-lit buildings and well-lit roads, with reflecting road signs hanging in the dark like paintings in a gallery. These are geographies familiar to many Australians - the landscape viewed from the seat of a car. Canberra’s rural, road-connected location lends itself to the creation of these works.
[1] The Drowned and the Saved (I sommersi e i salvati)– Essays by Primo Levi, 1986
Martin Paull, Pyramus and Thisbe, 2024. Image courtesy of Brenton McGeachie.
About the Artist
Martin Paull has practiced professionally since graduation from the South Australian School of Art (1992). After graduation, Martin was awarded a studio residency at Adelaide’s Central Studios, where he worked and exhibited until moving to Canberra in 1995. Martin has maintained studio spaces in Canberra at Leichhardt Street and ANCA.
Martin has exhibited widely in Australia with several important galleries - Maunsell Wickes, Solander, Ben Grady, and Beaver.
Martin was a finalist in both the 2020 and 2010 Blake Prize and was shortlisted for the Blake Prize in 2011 and in 2012. Martin was a finalist in the M16 Drawing Prize (2017) and Mission to Seafarer’s Prize (2015). Martin was also shortlisted for the 1995 Moet and Chandon Australian Art Fellowship and was a finalist in the 1994 Santos Art Prize, receiving a highly commended.
Martin has exhibited widely in Australia. Martin’s paintings are represented in private collections in Australia, and overseas. Public collections featuring Martin’s works are - Artbank Australia and Canberra Museum and Gallery.
