Martin says that he paints landscapes because they are eternal, and he intends his work to provide a meditative experience for the viewer. A decided balance between warm and cool tones is evident in the works. In the current work the tonality and color have been intensified into a richer, more vivid expression. At first glance, the paintings appear as tranquil scenes. A closer look, however, reveals that the artist has deconstructed and re-assembled each work into both naturalistic and abstract passages.
Some areas dissolve into abstractly painted surfaces.
In the left panel of the recent triptych Thanksgiving , for instance, the autumn leaves are painted with great detail, in shades of yellow and brown, and the rocks dissolve into abstraction. Martin 's previous shows at the Charles Cowles Gallery included works painted on topographical maps of upstate New York. The cartographer's lines became a part of the painted landscape image, or were allowed to stand alone as a related but disparate layer of visual information. Instead of topographical maps, however, a grid of small affixed drawings provides the ground for a densely painted hillside of winter trees. Doug Martin was born in Newton, Kansas, on December 10, 1947.