Beschreibung:

Martin Greenland Cordoba of the Mind (An Afternoon in Autumn), 2021 Oil on Paper Signed on verso 10 x 15cm (3¾ x 5¾ in.) ABOUT Martin Greenland is an unintentional Cumbrian, this being the county in which his parents were resident in 1985, the year he graduated with first class honours in Fine Art (Painting) from Exeter College of Art. Only intending to stay a short while and always intending to return to Devon, he remained and has been a resident of Cumbria for 36 years. Greenland is also an unintentional landscape painter, never wanting to 'end up' in this unfashionable end of the art world but a hereditary family trait of championing the underdog has led him to focus diligently and faithfully on this most honest of subjects. The influences of his long adopted home county have also very gradually come to influence his work. Always a northerner (Yorkshire by birth) but never necessarily 'proud' of the fact, he now has come to love the north and love landscape, that thing which surrounds us all, wherever it is. There is never any grand plan in his work. Themes come and go but he always works on what feels right or is utmost in his mind at the time. This deliberate lack of planning comes from knowing that what is planned will inevitably change anyway. More frequently, a canvas will be taken and work will start without any idea of what is going to happen. This makes painting always a surprise. His work is always totally invented and this has become an increasingly important concept in his painting. As well as being able to be much more in the nature of a composer, to be able to add or subtract at will and delighting at being able to exercise and challenge his skill as a painter in creating illusions of 'new' landscapes, it has become increasingly obvious to Greenland that this challenge to invent is not about showing off skill but is a test to him of his knowledge of the workings of the world. This actual dedication to truth keeps his work away from fantasy, until the time comes to tease or to jolt the viewer. For this reason there has always been a surreal element here though today even this is being played down until it is almost unnoticeable. The need for scientific truth is almost one hundred percent important in his work. Greenland has exhibited his work in Cumbria and other parts on the U.K. regularly since the 1980's, currently by The Portland Gallery in London, The Scottish Gallery in Edinburgh, The John Davies Gallery in Moreton-in-Marsh and Castlegate House in Cockermouth. He was represented in the John Moores Exhibition of Contemporary Painting, held biennially in Liverpool, for four consecutive times from 1989 to 1995, and in 2006 (John Moores 24) he was awarded the £25,000 First Prize for his painting 'Before Vermeer's Clouds', which is now a part of the permanent collection there. His work is held in collections worldwide. EDUCATION B.A. Hons. (1st) Fine Art (Painting) Exeter College of Art, 1985 SELECTED EXHIBITION/AWARDS EXHIBITIONS LIST JOINT EXHIBITIONS 2019: Miniature, Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh Prized, New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey Unpicturesque, Heaton Cooper Archive Gallery, Grasmere 2018: John Moores UK & China Prizewinners Show, Corke Art Gallery, Liverpool Tatha Gallery, Newport on Tay, Fife Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey 2017: Beaux Arts, Bath 2014: Beaux Arts, Bath 2013: Mixed exhibition, Corke Art Gallery, Liverpool Discerning Eye, Mall Galleries, London Dutch Italianates, Mall Galleries, London GBS Fine Art, London Art Fair, Islington, London 2011: I know a place, Flowers East, London Charter of the Forest, Usher Art Gallery and Collection, Lincoln 12, Art Gallery at Rheged Exhibition Space, Cumbria Fashback, 25 Years Anniversary Exhibition, Art Space Gallery, London 2010: Places of the Mind, Art Space Gallery, London Layers, John Moores Contemporary Painting Prize Show, Seongnam, South Korea 2006: FIRST PRIZE WINNER John Moores 24, Walker Art Gallery, Liverp