is pleased to invite you to
abandoned I faceless society I unrestricted I road to freedom
an exhibition of photographs by
Martin Osner
to be opened by Gordon Froud on Sunday the 11th of May 2008 at 17.00
Please join us for drinks
The show runs until Saturday 31st of May
Gallery hours: Tues - Sat 10:30 - 18:00
Tel / Fax (011) 726 8519
www.gordartgallery.com
gordon@gordartgallery.com
72 Third Ave Melville, Joburg, 2092
The differences and distinctions between painting and photography, obvious as some of these might be, have been remarked upon
often in writing. Still, looking at the work of Pretoria-based photographer Martin Osner, one is reminded that when it comes to
depicting visual experiences, whether through paint or with light, the two disciplines – painting and photography – nonetheless
share certain attributes. Perhaps the most important of these is the act of looking, the action of experiencing and interpreting the
objective world through the retina. Looking is something that precedes doing. This is important.
Although he is not a painter, Osner sees and experiences the world in ways that are, if you’ll excuse the expression, painterly. The way in which he speaks about his photographic vision reminds, in particular, of Henri Matisse. “What I am after, above all, is expression,” the French painter wrote in his famous 1908 treatise, Notes of a Painter. “I am unable to distinguish between the feeling I have for life and my way of expressing it.” Osner adopts a similar attitude in his approach to photography. Whether photographing botanical subjects or recording the Highveld landscapes he grew up with, Osner, like Matisse, ensures that the whole arrangement of his photograph is expressive.
Like Matisse, Osner is also a stickler for composition. Precise and often laboured, this habit manifests itself at various intervals in his portfolio. It is visible in the compositional clarity of his studio-lit abstractions, groupings of photographs cryptically titled Oeuvre and Panache; again you can see it in his botanical studies, including the madly colourful Vibrant Pallet series; even in his modernist study of pedestrians, On the Move. But, at the end of the day, Osner is not a painter, even if he prefers to see like one. He is a photographer with a defined sense of purpose.
Sean O’Toole
editor of the magazine Art South Africa and writes the Big Picture photography column for the Sunday Times
Artist Statement
I was born in Johannesburg South Africa in 1963. At the age of eighteen, photography and I found each other, quite by accident. Also interested in painting, I gravitated towards photography as a medium of choice.
Over the past twenty years my work has taken numerous detours, while walking the path of self-discovery. A journey that has allowed me to move towards a relaxed subconscious attitude with a desire to express simplicity and honesty through my work.
For me, a photograph holds an undeniable sense of realism, a connection that is easy to associate with. I see, I understand, I experience, I relate.
Unlike many artists, I treat anything as a possible subject and photograph things because I am interested in their transformation from reality to realism to art. Although I have never been a dedicated painter, I see and experience the world in this way.
My social commentary and documentary work has been inspired by the great photographer and master artist Henri Cartier Bresson. On the other hand, many of my still-life studies can be described as painterly expressionistic. Drawing influences through the Fauvism movement, in particular the work of Henri Matisse.
In my spiritual walk I experience hours of peace and contentment while expressing my art. I have never doubted my love for the
medium and a burning passion for photography. It is something I could never stop - it’s what I do, it‘s what I love, it’s who I am.
Martin Osner
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