Paul Martinson

Once common throughout the South Island and Stewart Island in prehistoric times; the species of South Island Kokako diminished significantly following the arrival of Maori settlements and the resulting forest clearance and human hunting, particularly on the East Coast. After the introduction of cats and ship rats via a second...

Huia were once found throughout the North Island from North Cape to Wellington but extensive hunting by Māori and the subsequent introduction of pacific rats saw the birds population contract almost entirely to the Tararua and Ruahine ranges. Then a wave of European immigration to Aotearoa in the 18th century...

Aotearoa New Zealand was once home to nine species of moa. Despite millions of years of existence, their disappearance from fossil and archaeological records sadly coincided with the arrival of the first humans in the 14th century. The resulting destruction of moa habitat and human hunting was responsible for their...

What makes a fish, a fish? Why is a light-bulb not a fish? How does a bird relate to a fish? These types of questions, although ridiculous on first reading, reveal a quest for epistemological knowledge, that is to say an appetite for the knowledge of knowledge itself. Martinson boasts...

Physics and natural science routinely underlie themes in Martinson's work. The light bulb, now an everyday object once sparked a quantum mechanical revolution when physicists puzzled over how electrical energy could transform into light waves. This moment lead to greater understanding of the true nature of reality and has become...

Physics and natural science routinely underlie themes in Martinson's work. The light bulb, now an everyday object once sparked a quantum mechanical revolution when physicists puzzled over how electrical energy could transform into light waves. This moment lead to greater understanding of the true nature of reality and has become...

An abiding interest in the surreal and the symbolic has seen Paul Martinson shift away from realism in search of a style that expresses the poetry of the human mind. While retaining a drawing-based figurative style, Martinson has embraced a personal, liberal approach to painting that allows a free flow...

Martinson’s surreal and poetic world is populated by enigmatic creatures, with very human poses and conscious facial expressions indicating the artist’s anthropomorphic references. The Venus figure, an archetype of female beauty, often accompanies these animal forms; entwined in a huddle-like embrace, or else floating together in a strange celestial dance....

An abiding interest in the surreal and the symbolic has seen Paul Martinson shift away from realism in search of a style that expresses the poetry of the human mind. Nonlocality demonstrates the artist’s personal, liberal approach to painting that allows a free flow of imagery and ideas, while retaining...

An abiding interest in the surreal and the symbolic has seen Paul Martinson shift away from realism in search of a style that expresses the poetry of the human mind. Electric Zoo demonstrates the artist’s personal, liberal approach to painting that allows a free flow of imagery and ideas, while...

Paul Martinson’s most recent work has a Gothic sensibility evoking concepts like death, evolution and mysticism. This aspect of the work derives in part from Martinson’s singular ability to paint light with a salient edge which is at once dark, brooding and ominous. There is an element of the irrational...

***PLEASE NOTE, PRIOR TO EXHIBITION OPENING ONLY SELECT IMAGES WILL BE AVAILABLE FOR VIEWING*** Throughout his lifetime as a painter, Paul Martinson has based his art practice around his love and commitment to drawing, both conceptually and from life. This underlying aspect of his work, in combination with an enduring...