Notes from the “Workshop Journal”
ALLISON LIPE CROSS
Roberto Martin's unique painting style portrays a mystique of an ancient
time and place. An essence of antiquity is ever present, most notably
characterized by muted earth tones and crackled, textural surfaces.
The impressive painting of Roberto Martin represents a singular fusion.
Its elements are myriad and disparate but join symphonically to form
canvasses that transcend not only painting, but imagery. Martin is able to
create a chromatically explosive expression within divine minimalism. The
elegant simplicity of his work gives the viewer a clear sense of the
timeless journey embodied in each painting.
Roberto Martin's tableaux evoke the sentiment of art as all art. The
artist allows himself to experience the crush of the modern world in order
to avoid its tainting the finished product. This allows Martin to let each
work take the path it may, without preconception, each stroke of the brush
ignoring its predecessor, their confluence a subconscious montage which
allows the onlooker to be absorbed and affected.
It is easy to overlook his technical expertise, precisely because it
affords him such freedom from construction. Roberto Martin has said that
there is no "sacred mission of the artist". One wonders, however, if in
the sublime emotional minimalism of his perpetual search, the artist has
not yet discovered one.
While one of the most prolific artists of our time, and with two global
exhibitions simultaneously in progress San Francisco and Madrid, the
artist currently has a collection of over eighty original oil/mixed media
paintings available for purchase.
ALLISON LIPE CROSS