Donald Martiny: Urpflanze

San Diego, California – Madison Gallery is excited to present Donald Martiny’s latest exhibition, “Urpflanze“, following his successful debut at the 59th Venice Biennale. Martiny delves into the emotionally charged themes of blue during the Romanticism era, where the blue flower represented desire, love, and the metaphysical striving for the infinite and unreachable. “Urpflanze” translates to ‘original plant’ in Italian, which refers to Martiny’s interpretation of the blue flower.

Martiny’s work explores the movement and progression of a sculptural brushstroke and abstract gesture, and his study of blues expands on these artistic ideas. He uses his artistic experience and masterful movements to represent this elusive blue flower in spontaneous ways, harmoniously working with the many tones and depths of blue. H.H. Boyesen described Martiny’s interpretation of blue as “the deep and sacred longings of a poet’s soul”.

“Donald Martiny’s work forces us to question the established definitions which form the backbone of our understanding of painting as both a pursuit and a product and of paint as a medium. In challenging the viewer in these ways, it is not only visually exciting but intellectually invigorating.” -Professor Deborah Swallow, Märit Rausing Director, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Donald Martiny, born in Schenectady, NY in 1953, currently resides in Connecticut and is represented by galleries in Europe, the US, and Australia, with his artwork collected internationally. His recent solo exhibitions include the Paul Taylor Dance Company at the Lincoln Center, NY, and Personal Structures Reflections at the 2022 59th Venice Biennale.

“The art of Donald Martiny exists somewhere between painting and sculpture. We are confronted with a singular brushstroke, huge, a seemingly spontaneous, lavish eruption of color and texture on the wall. It is the mark distilled from painting, the formerly minute detail writ large, what we usually discover as a hidden and obscured part of the whole is made to be the whole itself, the entire work a gesture on the wall.” -Donovan Irven, White Hot Magazine

Madison Gallery was founded by Lorna York in 2001. The program focuses on internationally recognized, museum-level artists whose work contributes to domestic and international cultural dialogue. The gallery presents significant Latin artists and brings international artists to San Diego for the first time. The core gallery program focuses on young and emerging artists, but the gallery also punctuates the program with historical exhibitions to provide depth and context. 

Artists represented by Madison Gallery receive critical attention and are widely exhibited. Many of the gallery’s primary artists, originally shown with Madison Gallery, are now being shown internationally and by established galleries in other cities, proving that the gallery has become a springboard for young talent.