MARTIN WEBB Statement
"My work has a lot to do with the experience of the singular individual in the world, whether in a crowd of people or alone in the wilderness. Its about the significance and insignificance we all feel in our physical and social environments.
The pieces recall the natural world, the organic, the geological, the biological, the micro and the macroscopic view. They always include elements of the man made – geometry, text, symbols, or found objects to create a dialogue and connection between the two worlds. Figures in the pieces are ambiguous forms that echo poses, gestures and presences that are familiar. Like other symbols in my vocabulary, they remind and reflect feelings and experiences in the artist and the viewer – I regard my task as one of emphasizing and enhancing these qualities and then inviting the viewer to respond.
As a young Englishman, I grew up experiencing the natural and urban American landscapes second-hand through the media and they always seemed rich with drama, symbolism, myth, and folklore. Now, as an artist experiencing them first hand, I have become fascinated with the scale, the diversity, the rawness, and especially the unresolved interface between the man-made and the natural.
Travelling this landscape has led to some narrative elements developing in my work. This narrative and passage of time may be on a brief, personal scale, or it may relate to the slow evolution of a landscape, or both. That state of flux is what interests me – that change is always happening on all scales at all times." - Martin Webb
MARTIN WEBB Resumé
EXHIBITIONS
2007 Permanent exhibition, A New Leaf Gallery, Sonoma CA.
2007 “Passengers” solo show,Float Gallery, Oakland, CA.
2006 Sausalito Arts Commission, “Ebb and Flow” juried show, Sausalito CA.
2006 Float Gallery, Oakland, Group Show.
2006 Venus, Berkeley CA, solo show.
2006 California Modern Gallery, San Francisco CA, “Geometrical Deconstructions” group show.
2005 Sculpturesite Gallery, San Francisco.
2005 ANL Gallery, Sonoma, CA.
2004 “New Works” show, A New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley CA.
2004 “Dwelling” show juried by Steven Oliver, A New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley CA.
2003 “Novo” show, A New Leaf Gallery, Berkeley, CA.
2002 Halcyon, Sheffield.
2000-02 Cupola Gallery, Sheffield.
2000 Benicia Arts, Benicia CA.
1999 Arts Benicia, Benicia, CA (Juried show)
1991 Bretton Hall College, Wakefield.
1986 Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster.
COMMISSIONS, INSTALLATIONS, AND SPECIAL PROJECTS
Novartis pharmacuticals, US Corporate Headquarters lobby, New Jersey. September 2006 purchase of “Constellation” triptych and “Brownian” diptych.
Commission piece for Wilson family Oakland, CA, July 2006. Installation of “Tinseltown” diptych into Japanese style private garden, Fort Bragg, CA, Summer 2006.
Commission for Roycroft family, Brentwood, England, September 2005.
Commission for exterior piece “Sure” for Ms. C Martin, Berkeley, CA, September 2005.
Commission for Mann Family, Palo Alto, CA, Summer 2004.
PUBLICATIONS
March 2005. “A New Leaf Gallery –an urban cultural oasis”, gallery retrospective, Brigitte Micmacker and John Denning.
June 2003. “The new school of decorative concrete”, article by Michael Miller and Kelley Burnham, Concrete International magazine.
EDUCATION
Post Graduate Certificate in Education – High School Art and Design Technology. Bretton Hall College, University of Leeds, 1991.
Bachelor of Arts Honors - Visual Arts, Lancaster University, 1986.
Special studies in drawing, painting and illustration.
DATEC Diploma in Art and Design, West Nottinghamshire College, 1983.
