Martin Laurance began his career as an engraver and graphic designer, attending art school classes in portrait sculpture and life drawing before taking a B.Ed. in Art and Design. Born in the Middle East, Martin's early childhood experiences of light, heat and colour are ingrained in his landscapes, giving them a zest.
Martin paints in oil, acrylic and mixed media. His works are colourful and energetic, with a richly textured surface built up to convey movement, weight and depth.
His work can be found in private and corporate collections throughout Europe, and is also represented in the Print Loan Collection, Sainsbury Centre, University of East Anglia.
'My work is about landscape. I try to convey the spirit and reality of a place, going beyond the immediate sensation to something felt and experienced. I believe that landscape still holds the key to emotions, feelings and spirituality. The solitude of moorland, mountains, sea and coastline I find deeply affecting, an awareness of the rhythm and energy that invests landscape with a meaning that transcends its outward appearance.
Many locations are heavy with the weight of history and the effects of man's interaction, something that can be sensed but often not seen, as little "visual" evidence may remain above ground. Some of my paintings are fairly topographical but many are not. This is not very important to me as I aim to distil some aspect of the inner reality or spirit of a place.
I usually walk an area, then draw or paint there and then; many of my locations are well known to me and have been walked and drawn many times. In the studio I use this raw material to create a work that is true to my experience. By allowing other elements, such as memory, to enter the picture making process at this stage the work becomes richer and, to me, more meaningful.
I usually work in series and return to the same themes as I find better ways of expressing my ideas.'
Selected Exhibitions
Last Gallery Zurich
Orford Ness 2009, Peter Pears Gallery, Aldeburgh.
Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour, Mall Galleries.
Castle Museum, Norwich
Frames Gallery, Norwich
John Russell Gallery, Ipswich
The Laing Open, Raveningham, Suffolk
The Hatton Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
'British Contemporary Art', Deloitte and Touche, Zurich
Taylor Contemporary Art, Richmond
David Curzon Fine Art, Wimbledon, London
Bircham Gallery, Holt, Norfolk
Last Gallery, Zurich.
Woodbine Cottage Gallery, Lincs