GENE PAUL MARTIN

Working from the heart of Quezon City in the Philippines, Martin envisions himself as a visual hunter: both in the subject matter he paints and with his personal encounters of the city. The new body of work in Melting Paraiso is a reflection of human experiences during the global pandemic, and more personally since fatherhood.

Martin defies easy readings of his work, challenging viewers’ preconceived notions of what paintings should be. Drawing references from various actual and imaginary sources he encounters, Martin remixes and decontextualises an abundance of historic and contemporary scenes. The results are surreal, recomposed worlds, one that create new saturated realities as they hybridise and surpass traditional genres. Martin explains, “I put whatever in my painting regardless of content...I don’t care what happens to these elements once put together...Their status and context disappears”.

Martin’s largest painting to date, the monumental triptych titled outer limitz, repels and lures audiences into various portions of the canvas with its intuitive placement of interdimensional inlets and multi-layered imagery. His keen application of colour and texture speaks to how he absorbs and conveys his real-time surroundings, one that encapsulates his need to fill empty spaces with the chaos and listlessness of the everyday.