By stealing fire from the gods and giving it to humans, it is believed that Prometheus bestowed the gift of creativity on humankind. And that creative flame radiates through the sweepingly dynamic colourism and richness of textures in Martineau’s paintings.
The journey through Martineau’s worlds takes us from the mystery pulsating in the green and red hues of “Les Bois Enchantés,” the crests and troughs of the untamable blue wildness of the ocean, to the passionate spontaneity of the Spanish Tango that reminds the spectator of rivers of molten lava coursing through the veins of dancers inebriated with the zest for life. The abstract depiction of Pegasus in the painting, “Pégase, j’irai comme un cheval fou,” awakens memories of one’s flying dreams and the states of utter insouciance, as well as longing for that which sometimes remains undefinable.
Martineau’s colours are like musical notes that build associations and ignite symbolic thinking that provokes aesthetic and sensory processing of the most pleasurable impressions. What at first glance may look like deliberate or accidental dripping of paint across the canvas as part of artistic play, soon reveals intricate links and connections between the lines, shapes, colours, and one’s senses, prompting one to search for some vital piece of knowledge or meaning within the paintings and within oneself.
The abstract poetics of Martineau’s art beckons instinctive pleasures comparable to the pleasure we feel when hearing a pleasant sound without prejudice of concept or meaning. In that context, Martineau’s colours have their own movement, their own artistic expressiveness. Devoid of the need to delineate any real object, they usher the spectator into a heightened emotional experience, a biological prism to interpret the perceptive shape of art.
Horace’s credo that literature should both instruct and delight is also reflected in art. Martineau states in his introduction to his work, “Concedo nulli,” that he painted Erasmus, whose motto, “I yield to nobody” had drawn sharp criticism from his contemporaries for his apparent lack of humility. Painted in nightshade colours interspersed with specks of brightness, the scene depicts a silhouette in a sitting, contemplative, or even defiant position, facing an undefined presence. The entire scene is captivating and reflective of Erasmus’ unyielding attitude.
Martineau’s retrospective opus embodies his quote that his air is imaginary. Like so many artists, he breathes the imaginary and the invisible reality. He inhales it and exhales bursts of mystic colourful mosaics of cosmic substance.
Written by Jana Begovic, Author of novels, poetry, and short fiction https://www.facebook.com/J.Damselfly
Thank you Jana
