At this stage of his 15-year process of creating the iconic Blindness collection, Javier Martin presents a continuation of this series: it concerns the appropriation of light, the struggle and contraposition of natural, artificial, and reflected light, and the visual definition of the complex characteristics of light.
Within the beauty of the seductive models lies the falseness per se: these women have been taken out of their world context of spotlights and placed as illusions for the viewer between idyllic landscapes and cold neon lights. They are portrayed as serene, often exotic and belonging to almost all beauty ideals. With the help of their beauty and self-confidence, they seduce and, at the same time, force the viewers to take place in their world: behind the light, in total blindness and delusion.
What our eyes perceive as natural turns out to be artificial upon a closer inspection: precisely executed paper collages torn vandalically and greedily from Spanish advertising posters create richly textured sections and a tangible three-dimensionality. The artificiality can also be observed in the models' garments and within surrounding elements of blue-gray water and emerald-green vegetation. Together they may be seen as a definition of advertising and the false world.
Behind charming gestures, tempting faces, glowing neon lights and vibrant landscape elements, natural light oscillates in a dance of death with a false light. Javier Martin chooses as the background of his paintings the breathtaking depictions of light metamorphosis throughout the day: from the pure, poetic sunrises, the brightest, dispersive lights of the noon, to the romantic, faded dawns and the darkest nights with a bright full moon.
Javier Martin pursues the immortalization of changing natural light, unstoppable time, the ephemeral of fleeting moment and beauty. The artist creates complex and multi-layered compositions with a pronounced balance within the textures, contrasts, and compositional constructions. Through excellent skills, meticulous research and observation of the daylight, Martin presents precise and exceptional colour studies using aerosols, acrylic and oil paints.
Viewers are placed before an intellectually demanding task: they must identify the dichotomy of light, question the power of artificial light and advertising, and confront and criticize accordingly.
Javier Martin is to be understood as a mediator and observer of our society. He brings together conventional elements from our everyday life, combining them in artful compositions and letting the viewers raise autocritical questions. He invites viewers to discover what lies behind each element and explore the expressive and thought-provoking message that remains hidden at first glance.
Text by Cezara-Maria Casian
