Rawson Projects is pleased to present their inaugural show Fingers in the Sun featuring new works by Sam Martineau.
Martineau’s works create a linkage between his immediate environment and abstraction. Constructing these various visual relationships is the act of seeing through a lens of potential paintings.
Martineau’s method is a graceful exploration of new ideas and materials with an understanding of restraint and color. The pieces are often on muslin or unconventional materials such as t-shirts and incorporate found objects. Reoccurring angular forms found in the paintings reflect the parallels between graphic design, handwriting and American modernist painters such as Stuart Davis, Burgoyne Diller, and Myron Stout.
A prominent musical influence can be seen throughout his work. The title of the work The Trio, for example, references the powerful compositional structure of the jazz ensemble while at the same time adopting that same organizational concept in its composition. The painting Dream Police is a playful homage to the checkered design of a Cheap Trick album. In fact, throughout Martineau’s work one finds elements alluding to LP covers, perhaps most ubiquitous is the open square motif that appears throughout this body of work. His previous projects have also included an ambitious series of record collages and the artwork for a limited edition 7” record pressing produced by Power Records.
Another element of Martineau’s visual vocabulary is that of soccer. The artist has played and appreciated soccer throughout his life and his work recalls the elegant play of the beautiful sport, with every carefully placed element knowing its role, in perfect rhythm as they race across the canvas. The photograph of Dutch soccer great Johan Cruyff which hangs in Martineau’s studio and is also found on the announcement card is a reminder of the concept of Total Football, where all players are seen as interchangeable, thus creating an unstoppable offense. Martineau’s process possesses a similar strategy as the constant use of different materials are made interchangeable to express repeated forms, patterns and ideas.
Sam Martineau was born in 1973 in Springfield, Ohio. He lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Selected one-person exhibitions include Paintings/Collages, StudioMiko, Brooklyn, New York 2009; Slip Down Easy, Brooklyn Fireproof, Brooklyn, New York 2005. Selected group shows include A Lettuce Slaughter In The Woods, Real Fine Arts, Brooklyn, New York 2010; Outside The Time Zone, Camel Art Space, Brooklyn, New York 2009, Solid Green, David Krut Projects 2005 New Yorks’s Finest, Canada, New York, New York.