Colourful characters
Portraits are always compelling subject. But they arent necessarily a recognisable image of a particular face.
A small group of conventional studies from the collection of the Newcastle Art Gallery is evidence of the fascinating diversity such portraits embody. They are counterpoint to the internationally important exhibition of works from 2000 to 2011 by Dani Marti, on view until November 13.
As visitors will realise from getting to know George, a vast wall of woven yellow fro the gallery’s collection. Dani Marti seeks to capture more of a sitters essence than a painted face.
The dramatically lit gallery is currently hung with similar giant weavings constructed from commercially available highly textured ropes, cords and braids, augmented by feathers, plastic junk, chains and even a labyrinthine red bead curtain. The surfaces are richly and infinitely tactile; there is even a giant work made entirely from metallic pot scourers .
As much as a feast for the eye, the sense of touch is crucial element , which gallery visitors will have to intuit , in compositions of soft feathers, of abrasive dark plastic tape, in regular warp and weft. The subjects of the works include the artist’s family and Agnes Martin,, the American minimalist painter, but they also include casual acquaintances overly gay community , mainly from Glasgow where the artist regularly spends time, though he also has a home in the Hunter Valley.
Video captere of Dani Marti’s obsession with moments of intimacy, often with strangers, is in crucial juxtaposition to the sumptuously abstract tactile surfaces of his weavings.
While it may be confronting this audacious balancing act is the basis for international recognition of Dani Marti, born in Spain in 1973 and currently living and working and exhibition in many parts of the world.