Martin Webb
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Crocker Kingsley exhibition

1/15/2021

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I'm delighted and honored to have my painting, A New Perspective, on show at the 2021 Crocker Kingsley exhibition.

The Crocker-Kingsley Exhibition was first juried in 1940, and over the past 80 years, this prestigious show has included many premier names in American and California art, including Robert Arneson, Elmer Bischoff, David Gilhooly, Gregory Kondos, Mel Ramos, Ruth Rippon, and Wayne Thiebaud. In the past, this competition has featured solely California artists. However, starting this year the exhibition was open to submissions from all artists nationally. Works selected by this year’s juror, Carrie Lederer, is on display in all four galleries at Blue Line Arts in Roseville, CA.

Exhibition dates: January 8th to February 20th.
Virtual reception: Saturday, January 16th at 3pm.
Register for the virtual reception and vote for People's Choice at Blue Line Arts.
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Wild Tangents - a bicoastal online art show

11/6/2020

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I'm excited to announce that my work is included in Wild Tangents, a timely bi-coastal exhibition curated by Caetlynn Booth (New York) and Ann Trinca (San Francisco). View the show at anntrinca.com
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The year 2020 has pushed many people apart and tested our resolve. But it also stretched our imaginations and made us dig deeper. For artists it meant fewer opportunities to share their work, but perhaps more time in the studio to work through ideas or simply follow a loose thread. In a sense, quarantine stopped time – but it couldn’t keep our creative minds from racing.

Wild Tangents is a bi-coastal exhibition curated by Caetlynn Booth (New York) and Ann Trinca (San Francisco) that looks at recent work from artists who have tuned into inspiration from unexpected places. A “wild tangent” can be a mere distraction, or a journey from which you never return. The artists in this exhibition have reached into a swirling hive of current events and wrestled with unprecedented concepts. The exhibition will appear online on the curators’ websites. In addition, the East Coast show will be on view by appointment at the gallery at Reservoir Studios (659 Woodward Av, Ridgewood, NY).
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News from the studio

7/22/2020

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Hi Friends
I hope you're faring well. It seems a little redundant to comment on the unprecedented times we find ourselves in right now, but I do sincerely hope you are all faring well.
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News

This new stripped down and simplified life has led to some very productive spells in the studio, and you can see the resulting paintings here. Having previously had several gallery shows cancelled, I can share some more positive exhibition news below.

It seems like this is a time for being patient, and working as deeply as possible with the things you have available, and I'm grateful to be in a position to do that.
Roan and Black

I'm thrilled to now have work with Roan and Black, a contemporary art gallery in West Michigan, located on the historic Blue Star Hwy in the Saugatuck and Douglas area. They have a selection of my paintings and are currently open.
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Perch Art House

Recently established by Ann Trinca and Norma Quintana, Perch Art House is an online art gallery and store promoting the work of Bay Area artists and photographers, alongside a collection of curious decor objects. They currently have a number of small paintings from my Nightwalking series available.
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Future Exhibitions

Over the last year I developed great new working relationships with two galleries, and had shows scheduled for this year. Unfortunately circumstances dictate that we postpone both exhibitions for now. However, I do look forward to announcing some very exciting 2021 shows at Sue Greenwood Fine Art in Laguna Beach CA, and at Elder Gallery in Charlotte NC. Meanwhile, do contact them about work or commissions.


In fact, I encourage you to stay in touch and support any local gallery you appreciate as best you're able.
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Stay safe and well friends, and thanks as always for your interest and support,

Martin

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Art shows, new online info, and hunkering down

3/20/2020

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Hi Friends
I hope you're all healthy and safe in this challenging time, and that you're keeping a good perspective on our shared situation. As we are all doing, I am making some changes to my activities and plans, so I want to tell you about them.

A New Page
The vast majority of art sales I make are through the much appreciated galleries and art-consultants that I work with - I rarely sell pieces directly and usually I don't actively promote doing so. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an abrupt halt to most gallery activity, exhibitions have been cancelled or postponed, and other projects are on hold. For that reason I have launched the purchase page you see in the menu bar above - it's not a "shop", but an invitation to contact me if you are interested in purchasing work. Hopefully you already know that my work ranges from inexpensive small prints to giant commissions!

All indications suggest that what was already a tough time for galleries and artists (my one solo show of last year was cancelled when the gallery lost their lease to gentrification) is about to get tougher, so I urge you, if you're able, to support any artist or you follow or check in with a gallery you're a fan of.
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Hunkering in the studio
Exhibitions
  • The Left Coast Annual show at Sanchez Art Center is sadly cancelled. There will be an online virtual version of this diverse and excellent group show curated by Carin Adams, Curator of Art at The Oakland Museum of California.
  • The show Home at Elder Gallery, Charlotte, NC, in which I have a number of paintings is now postponed until fall 2020. I was due to do a residency there in May and construct a gallery installation for the show - I am hoping this will still go ahead at a future date.
  • My two person show at Sue Greenwood Fine Art in Laguna Beach is still scheduled to open August 20th.

The Upside
This is a great opportunity to hunker down in my studio and be productive! I've been painting a lot this year already and expect to do a lot more the next few months. I'll update the website with new pieces as they emerge, and you can always keep an eye on what I'm up to via Instagram or my less-used Facebook.

Thanks as always for your ongoing interest and support - its always appreciated!
Stay safe and well,

Martin
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2020 Exhibitions

2/11/2020

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Hello Friends – I hope your 2020 has started well. I have some news of shows coming up this year.
 
Left Coast Juried Annual
Sanchez Art Center, Pacifica, CA
Reception April 10th, 7-9pm
 
The painting below will be included in this annual group show at Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica. This year’s show was juried by Carin Adams, Curator of Art at Oakland Museum of California, and will show 50 artworks selected from 980 entries.
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Ian’s Place, 2018, 48 x 96, is based on a photograph plus the recollected image of an old friend’s small mid-century house located where the forest meets the beach on a secluded stretch of New Zealand coast.
 
 
Elder Gallery of Contemporary Art
Charlotte, NC
Opening reception May 14th
 
I’m excited to be starting work with this gallery which mixes an established heritage with a great vision for it’s future work. In this four-artist group show that contemplates concepts of home, I'll be contributing some recent paintings and a large installation that I will build on-site in the gallery in May.
www.eldergalleryclt.com
 

Sue Greenwood Fine Art
Laguna Beach, CA
August/September
 
SGFA is another gallery that I’ll be working with for the first time. This will be a two person show alongside an artist who’s work I’ve admired for years. I’m really looking forward to announcing details closer to the time!
www.suegreenwoodfineart.com

 
As always, I appreciate your continued interest and support,

Martin
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Aninstantia Foundation Grant

3/26/2019

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I am thrilled and immensely grateful to be the recipient of the 2018 Aninstantia Foundation Visual Arts Grant.

From the Foundation's website: Aninstantia Foundation believes there is a need for art in the world of today. The intention of Aninstantia Foundation is to support individual artists who embody the creative force that, through art, touches an expansive range of senses, feelings, and thoughts—art that augments dimensions of our lives. Artists talking about the relationship between art and art forms provide insights into the making of art that enhances the richness of human experience.

I intend to use the grant to support my transition to my new studio, my ongoing studio work, and to further my explorations in printmaking.
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148 Possibilities - a new mural in Palo Alto

1/16/2019

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 Back in 2017 I was selected by The City Of Palo Alto to make a commissioned wall piece for Avenidas, a very progressive day-use senior center in downtown Palo Alto. The center has existed for some time in an older Mission-style building and there were plans to greatly expand it into what would become a much larger purpose-built adjoining building.

We did some consultation with the center's staff and users to solicit opinions of how they see and value Avenidas, and what having it means to them. Themes of personal growth, new connections, and an optimism for new opportunities were foremost, and subsequently these were the thoughts I had in mind as I considered what imagery to use.

I kept coming back to the digital painting on the left, one that I'd made some time ago whilst experimenting with some simple iPad software. The circles with their random orientations, and the almost grid-like structure that they don't quite conform to, seemed to have a vibrancy and energy that reflected the themes. And the strong verticality in the background would complement the space well.
I took the digital image and constructed the collage pictured right. The shadowy shapes in the background now had more of a foliage-like quality, and the colors were adjusted to work in the Avenidas lobby space.

From the outset I'd intended to make the piece using reclaimed wood and the opportunity came up to use some old pine boards that had been in a now demolished roof section of the old building. Everyone loved the idea of reusing part of the old building as a feature of the new one, so the boards were salvaged and used as you see in the following images of the piece being made.

I liked the random stripes that were present in the old paint, so rather than remove it I let them subtly show through the new colors. Shapes were routed into the wood at different depths and some areas stained to better match the tones of the collage design. The layer of small circles with their painterly stripes and bright red edges were the final stage.
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Each separate board was numbered and indexed so that they could be installed in the lobby of the new building. The piece is approximately 16.5 x 10.5 ft, and its location provided some interesting challenges. As you can see, the lobby is a very tall but quite shallow space and it can be hard to take in the whole of the piece from such a close distance, however there are multiple viewpoints from the adjacent stairs and landings, and crucially the piece is visible through the glass windows as you approach the building. So my intention is that you see the larger graphic elements and general composition from outside, then once inside you see the material and textural elements.

Here are some installation shots. I am hugely appreciative of all the people who helped make this happen, especially all the people of Avenidas, Elise DeMarzo and Nadya Chuprina of Palo Alto's Public Art Program, architect Susi Stadler, Vance Brown Construction, and my pal Lee Tollefsrud who once again helped me install the piece.
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In Progress

12/7/2018

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A quick update on what's happening in the studio. I have some new paintings underway, but am mostly working on a commissioned wall piece for the lobby of Avenidas Senior Center in Palo Alto. For many years Avenidas have been located in an older Mission style building in downtown Palo Alto, and they're currently remodeling the old building and grafting a large new building onto it. The wall piece I'm making uses timbers reclaimed from the old building which have designs carved, painted, and added in relief. The design is rooted in an abstract digital painting I made a few years ago which seemed to suggest themes of growth and connection.

I'm working on the piece is sections in my temporary space at Jackknife Studios in Oakland with woodwork being done at the woodshop at Trainhole Studios in Berkeley. The piece will be hung on a two story wall in the main entry lobby and is approximately 16 x 11ft so pushing the limits of my modest current space! Installation will happen in January so stay tuned ...

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Monoprints at Kala

10/24/2018

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From their website, "Founded in 1974, Kala Art Institute provides exceptional facilities to professional artists working in and across all forms of printmaking, digital media, film, video, and sound, book arts, photography, and performance". I recently took a three day series of monoprint classes with Jen Cole at Kala's print studios in Berkeley and you can see some of the resulting 14 x 14 prints below.

When I was in college I did a little printmaking but was always put off by the very step-by-step, technical nature of the processes which didn't really gel with my more intuitive approach to developing images. Since then I've dabbled with some linocuts, collagraphs, and monoprints, all just approached with a minimal degree of real technical knowledge , and I realized that printmaking can be very spontaneous and intuitive after all.  I thought it was time I took some more serious lessons and Jen's approach which combined technical input with encouragement to experiment was perfect. I'd like to pick up the printmaking thread again next year at some point.
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Summer News

8/15/2018

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I hope your summers are going well friends! I'm having a busy one and want to share a few pieces of news.

Jackrabbits in Huntington Beach

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I've just installed this commission "From The Earth" in the garden of the new Huntington Beach Senior Center. It's been in the pipeline for few years and has taken up the last several months with much intensive fabrication. The piece comprises sixteen columns with hand made and hand glazed tile. More pictures and information about the project here.

Stremmel Gallery

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I currently have a few pieces in the summer group show at Stremmel Gallery in Reno. The show runs through August and is well worth visiting if you find yourself in the Sierras.

Thomas Henry Gallery

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I have some recent paintings at Thomas Henry Gallery in Nantucket and will soon have some in their gallery in Newlyn, Cornwall, UK. The mid-century St Ives and Cornish painters have always been a big influence on me both philosophically and visually, so I'm excited to be working with a gallery based in Cornwall and in a US gallery with Cornish roots. 

New Studio

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I've just relocated from my long-time home studio to Jackknife Studios (formerly The Hive Studios) near Jack London Square, Oakland. I'm looking forward to working in this great little creative setting, plus it's going to be a lot more convenient for hosting studio visits. Let me know if you ever want to drop by and see what's going on.

Crocker news

The Crocker Art Museum commissioned an evaluator to observe children and families interacting with their Art Spots installations which included three temporary installations and my permanent Dreamboat installation I made last year. The findings are fascinating!

"In Dreamboat, children had highly imaginative experiences. They walked into this installation and almost immediately appeared to immerse themselves into this “other world.” In this space, children were often observed creating narratives, deepening them as they engaged more with new play participants or found objects in the installation."

There were behaviors I hadn't anticipated:

"Dreamboat also fostered opportunities for social and emotional development. In this space, children expressed more moments of tenderness and awareness towards other’s needs. Older children also appeared more confident in taking on leadership roles, rallying their peers into play with them."

My single favorite observation was this one:

"A child and their caregiver are alone in Dreamboat. Almost immediately upon entry the child runs to the boat and begins narrating a story – the child is Wonder Woman and they are going out to sea. The child spends close to 45 minutes narrating their play and further developing their world, almost entirely alone. At various points throughout their play they voice a question about what to do next. In these moments the child holds a conversation with themselves taking on a secondary role of Wonder Woman, contemplating her actions as a factor for what they should do next. It is through this persona and acting it out that this child further explores Dreamboat, deepens engagement, and moves from collecting objects for their sailing trip to identifying creatures they must protect to building tools at the craft table to use in their adventure."

A short video about the installation was shot last Fall and you can see it here.
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  • Home
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