Dreamy and Sensual
Queensland Weekend Bulletin May 27 - 28 2006
Judy Anderson
Martine Emdur's exhibition, Limelight, now showing at Schubert Contemporary, could be testimony to the words of Ta te Ching, 'nothing in the world is as soft and yeilding as water'.
Her grand scale oil paintings depict the dreamy, sensual sensation of floating.
Realistic images depict underwater visions of languid nude figures as well as lone swimmers seen from the above, bathing caps bobbing above still water.
Seeing becomes feeling in these works, as the distance between subject and viewer diminishes and we begin to share in the bathers experience.
The expansive surface of each work defies optical viewing. Instead our perception is immersed in a close almost tangible field of vision, where foreground and background merge, and time ceases to exist.
"The feeling of weightlessness is something I love to capture", says Emdur.
"There is a real sense of calm associated with this state of being - floating, going with the flow, drifting, surrendering. For the body to inhabit the water it becomes a part of it for that instant."
Emdur's paintings exquisitely capture the effect of underwater distortions and filtered light revealing the ocean floor.
"Watching the light hit the constantly moving rippled water is hyptnotic, reflecting the surrounding environment as the facets change direction. It never ends, and it never stays the same. like a fractal, the closer in you go the more you discover," she says.
The life sized nude fgures depicted are modelled on friends of the artist.
"I have a favourite pool of friends you love to jump in for me", says Emdur.
Her process necessitates working from underwater photographs.
"I'm a bit of a wimp when it comes to jumping in myself."
Most of her canvases are more than 2m wide and usually no higher than 180cm to enable her to capture the space around the bather - (it's also as high as she can reach standing on a milk crate!)
Accompanying the immense watery space created in the work, comes a quality of mystery and vague sense of unease with the darkness and depth. A surreal or otherworldly sensation is generated particularly in the images of lone bathers, not unlike the effect in a Jeffrey Smart painting.
Emdur's lone swimmers appear to be at one with life's continuum, simultaneously in touch with mortality and divinity.
The ebb and flow of the tide, like the highs and lows of our own lives or the rhythm of breathing, becomes fundamental to existance.Emdur's painting process begins with gestural marks which are gradually honed to create the fluid, lyricalbrushstrokes and subtle nuances that have become her trademark.
"Loads of paint gets splashed aroundwith a huge house painting brush to get a rough idea of composition and tone," she says.
"It's always the most exciting stage and this is when I feel most in tune with the experience of painting. Once the form of the figure has taken shape and I know how the underneath is moving, I use transpparent glazes to build up a sense of depth and distance. Occassionally a painting will come together very swiftly, taking just a week to complete, but this is winning lotto - it's a rare event. More often works are a month in the making."
Born in 1966, Emdur who has always lived by the sea, has been painting water since her first solo show in 1997. Always interested in art as a teenage, it was not until her mid 20's that she had the opportunity to pursue it as a carreer.
"I had worked in a series of rather unexciting jobs after school, waitressing, secretarial work and never excelled at any of them - thankfully," she says.
Finding her niche in designing, she embarked on a small business in creative signage, an area she worked in for many years.
"I consider myself largely self-taught besides the occassional term course at evening college," she says. "I feel that I have been mostly influenced by my surroundings and experience rather than particular artists."
Emdur shares a studio with a couple of girlfriends who are 'truly gorgeous and good for a giggle.' "Being an artist is a full time job for me that requires five to six days a week, and often seven days drawing near to exhibition deadlines," she says.
Her two year old son Asher enjoys hanging out with his many nephewes and neices during this time. "I couldn't do it with out the amazing support of my family, particularly my mother," she says. "I love the experience of being a mother as it has added dimension to my life that I could not have possibly imagined, despite being permanately sleepless. I don't even know how I get through the day. I consider it a miracle when I finish my work for a show. I always stand in the gallery scratching my head wondering how it happened."
But it does, due to Emdur's extaordinary passion, vision and immense technical skill.
Her advice to young artists: "Dedication, Passion, Tenacity and Time. It takes many years to to even get a vague understanding of how materials, tecnique and ideas come together to say what you want to say."