'Blurring of life and art making'

From Nat Martin’s show, “Untitled Afternoon,’’ at Kingston Gallery, Boston, June 29-July 31. He lives in the Boston area.

The gallery says:

“This is a collection of small objects made outside the studio, within the orbit of his family. The title of the show suggests a blurring of life and art making, with a practice that is not reliant on the isolation of the art studio. Intimate, poetic, humorous and sometimes mournful, they are made of the stuff of life and family. In Martin’s words: ‘There are many references of our domestic life and what was around us - tipping laundry, toys, birthday cakes, aging, clutter, love, school projects, unfinished projects, marriage, cherubs, joy, sadness, mini golf.’ The work in the show has both a sense of discovery and surprise. They were inspired by the uninhibited creativity of his young kids, who were sometimes also his artistic collaborators.

“Known for his photography, Martin initially had no intentions of exhibiting his sculpture; rather he referred to their fabrication as his playground, a place where there were limitless possibilities of what he could make and the materials he could use. All the work reflects the poetry of everyday life and parenting with all its foibles and triumphs. Home and Art collide. Martin’s 12-year-old child has a memory of Martin at the stove cooking salmon, while melting a wax Minnie Mouse for the next piece.

Visit here for a bio of Nat Martin.

At least it's quiet

“Beneath the Ice” (archival inkjet print), by Nat Martin, in his show “Nat Martin - Studio Views,’’ at Kingston Gallery, Boston, Jan. 2-Feb. 2

Surreal landscapes

From photographer Nat Martin’s show “Nat Martin: New Landscapes,’’ at the Kingston Gallery, Boston, through Oct. 28. The gallery describes his “photographic journey through real and augmented landscape, characterized by virtual experimentation and the inspiration of historical photography along with alternative processes. … As he developed this current series of constructed landscapes, Martin revisited his older landscape photographs as if they were found imagery. He employed a wide range of imaging techniques to reinvent the landscapes, bending the shots towards their opposite mood and creating surreal effects. Day becomes night, heat changes to snow, and visible film grain gives images stylized, painterly effects.’’