AROUND THE GALLERIES
Dani Marti: Time is the Fire in Which We Burn
SPANISH BORN artist Dani Marti’s prodigiously scaled “woven paintings” skirt both an engulfing tactility and a refined process. In a series of five such works, plus tow video pieces. Marti employs domestic and industrial materials sucha as scourers, rope, nylon , leather and rubber to create meticulous aesthetic evoking anything from landscape to biology and textiles. Bit in an odd way, these seemingly abstract works are quite figurative. Marti frames his “paintings” in terms of portraiture, giving these works a surprising personal quality. The title work-a vast wall piece constructed of silver and copper-coloured scourers- is to be read along side a one hour long video work, which was banned in a recent show at GoMA in Glasgow. The piece features the intensely personal account of an HIV-positive gay man and gives an entirely different , almost cellular aspect to the wall work. Among Marti’s tactile clusters, weaves and craft is a swathe of strands, stories and character traits.
Dan Rule