Chris Martin, “Untitled,” 2013, printed vinyl, 122 1/2 x 190 in. Courtesy the Journal Gallery.
Titularly yet tentatively, this three-person exhibition is about psychedelic mushrooms, but only one piece depicts toadstools. That work is Chris Martin’s “Untitled” (2013), a freestanding vinyl screen, more than 15 feet wide and 10 feet tall, portraying a woman foraging in the woods. Tree-size mushrooms surround her as she bends down to pluck something from the forest floor, while a painted void eats into the scene from the top right corner. Martin is best known for making rhythmic, semi-abstract paintings, and we get the sense that working with collaged figuration is freeing for the artist—that it’s important for him to shake things up.
Martin’s other works on display likewise utilize a mix of materials to create eccentric imagery. There’s a James Brown record screwed to the wall, with spray-painted gold dots and lines radiating across the black vinyl; a “Daily News” front page announcing the death of Michael Jackson coated in chunky orange, yellow, and blue paint and gel medium; a cloudy glitter-and-oil painting that resembles sparkling galaxies viewed from deep space; and a black-and-white photo of a guy by the seashore cradling nine pumice stones, while broadly painted lines in yellow, red, and green burst all around him. This one hangs from the brick façade outside the gallery, where summer rains, wind gusts, pollution, and sunlight will continue to alter the picture.
