Everything in the digital age is becoming packaged. Artefacts and objects are processed and reduced to bite sized portals of information so that the viewer can easily process and file information into an internal catalogue. As we spend more time on the computer, watching video clips, or reading bite sized links placed on our news, twitter or Facebook feeds, we are invited to see the world around us as fitting into certain concepts or constructs.
Nothing could be further from this notion when a viewer stands in front of an elegant resin painting by abstract painter Leigh Martin. His colour pigment and resin layers glimmer and shine with both intensity and stillness. These artworks need time and an interplay with the viewer to unravel their essence. The paintings appear alive and glow as if waiting for our response to them. Martin sees them as almost living objects, which are influenced by the atmosphere in which they are created and also placed in. They are affected by the viewer and what they bring to the work, but also the surrounding space, and in particular, the light, whether it be natural or artificial. At different times of the day, another layer or ‘pour’ is illuminated. The way the viewer sees them, how they affect the viewer, can completely change compared to whether they are seen in natural or artificial light. Says Martin, “I kind of want the works to be living entities in some respects."