Salt of the Earth

Description

Featured print on auction: Mandela Portrait
110x110cm | Gicleè Print on fine art paper, framed in black aluminum.
Artist: Martin Osner

ART PHOTOGRAPHY GALLERY
Landline +27 (0) 21 790 6494  |  Mobile +27 (0) 83 472 1717
131 Sir Lowry Road, Foreshore, Woodstock.
martinosnergallery@gmail.com | www.artphotography.gallery

In tribute to the late Nelson Mandela, an inspirational leader, world icon for peace, the father of democracy to many, and former president of South Africa, Martin Osner has created a unique portrait in his honor. The portrait, created by using salt crystal overlays, is available in three different sizes. Selected quotes taken from the 1964 Rivonia Trial are also handwritten on the bottom of the print.

On a winter’s day in 1984 “photography” and I met quite by accident, an encounter that redirected my life and changed it forever. Over the past twenty-eight years, while walking a path of self-discovery, my methodology has taken numerous detours. A journey that has refined 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 new correlation that is easy to associate with. I see I understand; I experience, I connect. In my photography, I allow day to day life to provide inspiration and treat all subjects as a potential composition. I enjoy the conceptual transformation that a lens and camera offer. Although I have never been a dedicated painter, I see and experience the world in this way.

Life is my canvas, and I often feel like a painter trapped in a photographer’s body where lens and light have become an expressive substitute for paint and brushes. I usually create themes and grouping of images within my portfolio and on a given day, find myself working on a variety of projects at once, often taking years to complete. One of my great joys is using photography as a base to create mixed media pieces. I have adopted an intuitive approach resisting restriction to specific
substrates, mediums, or techniques.

Emotion and experimentation drive my creative process, and I allow the final artwork to evolve rather than containing its finality. In my work, I intently concentrate on elemental form, rhythm, and pattern, allowing simplicity to engage visual impact. I contribute my style to several artists and photographers. The great artist and photographer Henri Cartier Bresson have inspired my social commentary and documentary work, and the teachings of Ansel Adams have influenced my landscape photography.

On the other hand, many of my still life and abstract studies have been described as painterly expressionistic, drawing influences through the works of Henri Matisse and of late Jackson Pollock. In my spiritual walk, I experience hours of peace and contentment when behind the lens of my camera and in my studio, creating art. I believe that my steps have been guided along an inventive and purposed path by an awesome and caring God. I have never doubted my love for photography or my burning passion for art. It is something I could never stop. It’s what I do; it‘s what I love, it’s who I am.