![A angled view of the first wall in 'Hu[manned] Mission', a group exhibition by Mary Martin, Niamh McGuinne and Sarah Edmondson, in the Lumen Crypt Gallery, October 2021. ON the left you see a lit up painting seen at an angle by Mary Martin called 'Gl](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/615b29bcd4303d253a488260/fec7b0d2-5cfe-430b-9fd3-944a76bf992d/IMG_0544.JPG)
Mary Martin is an Irish visual artist and a 2021 Fine Art Graduate of Brighton School of Art.
Through paint and collage, Martin constructs an alternate reality; a heterotopia. Her playful approach to language and interpretation together with her vibrant and surreal compositions belie a serious reflection on the Anthropocene where she presents a future evolutionary state where it is unclear if humanity still exists. While Martin’s paintings appear playful and theatrical, their serious undertones address the growing disconnection between hyper capitalist society and the natural and liminal worlds, with fish forms mutating into mermaid-like hybrids, secretly advancing in the natural world without our knowledge.
Recent shows The Ladder is Always There, Draíocht, Dublin(2023), solo show, ALLTAR, Takt, Berlin(2023) and TOOTH, DIVA Gallery, Dublin(2022) show Martin’s confidence in paint and print; these and her recent residency at Takt Berlin(2023) and Agility Award 2022, reflect an exciting emerging artist with her finger on the pulse of a reality in crisis.
(Reel)
Image 1 Credits: Niamh Barry 2023.
Image 8 Credits: Phoebe Wingrove 2022.