Life & Death - In focus: Mary Martin & Johnny Morant

A woman sits, staring out into the middle distance, she is not returning our gaze. Instead she contemplates something we can never know, she looks past us. The life paintings of Johnny Morant are beautifully conceived, figurative forms which generate a dream-like pliancy. The use of pastel, soporific colouring contrasted with deep flesh tones and warm shadows allude to a sensation of an encompassing light. The figure, whose gaze always eludes us, dissipates into the background releasing the form into new dimensions of space.

Beguiling yet sympathetic, the work of Mary Martin is a visual metaphor for the delicate line between life and death. The work is based on observational drawings of deceased animals, before the detrimental phase of decomposition. Martin draws closely from the permanent sleep that seizes these bodies. Using etching, Martin is capturing detail and the concept of preservation after death. A reflection of life once lived, these bodies lie still, brushing their shadows that spread from under them like the darkness that has transported their being. The etchings are reminiscent of the naturalism of Durer whilst the subject matter has a contemporary relevance to the work of Polly Morgan’s taxidermy based sculpture. Martin, like Morgan, has a profound appreciation of the fragility of life and in turn, celebrates the mysterious beauty of these silent creatures. Each piece beautifully explores our fears of mortality and yet summons a prevailing innocence of the natural world.

Nude 1 by Johnny Morant