DANI MARTI

b. 1963

DANI MARTI was born 1963 Barcelona, Spain. Lives and works Sydney, Australia and Glasgow, Scotland. Marti works across video, installation and public art. His unorthodox woven and filmic works turns to wider notions of portraiture and sexuality in Modernism, Minimalism, and geometric abstraction.

Oscillating between hopefulness and failure, Dani Marti’s work is hinged to a representational paradox. For on the one hand it presupposes belief in the act of portrayal, and on the other hand it tacitly admits portraiture’s inevitable failure to accurately capture. His relation to his subject is consistently fixed: an obsessive, laborious, and often desire-driven attempt to represent something of his subject that is beyond appearances. Something of a deep-rooted lust between him and his subject, something of an essence, something, in other words, beyond surface. But it is surface—quite literally—that we as viewers are left with in Marti’s work, nothing objectively closer to ‘the real’ other than what one chooses to see and read into it. Marti’s work is thus an explicit reminder that viewer subjectivity is the only place where the portrait can truly be generated. His gestures toward it are merely our starting points.

http://danimarti.com/

“For Marti, both weaving and (video) taping, represent an act of bondage, a ritual which enables the artist to ‘possess’ the person that is portrayed. Aesthetics, pleasure, fantasy and security come into play reminding us of Foucault’s ideas about violence as an exercise of power that negatively affects freedom, and through which the dignity of the other is perceived under a new light. It’s a question of faith, of mutual consensus, but also and most importantly about portraiture as an impossible act.”

(Paco Barragan)

ARTIST INFORMATION

BIOGRAPHY

1963	Born in Barcelona, Spain
1979	Ramon Gomis, studies in tapestry technique, Barcelona, Spain
1988	MBA, Esade, Barcelona, Spain
1991	Diploma Fine Arts, Julian Ashton Art School, Sydney
1992	Fine Arts course, Art Students League, New York
2000	Master of Arts, College of Fine Arts, University of NSW, Sydney
2006	Master of Fine Arts, Glasgow School of Art

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2018		Blow, Turner Galleries, Perth Red on Red, Dominik Mersch Gallery, Sydney
2017		I Am, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2016	Still life in yellow, steel and mandarins The University Gallery, University of Newcastle Ice Blue, Dominik Mersh gallery, Sydney Black Sun, Fremantle Arts Centre, for Perth International Art Festival, Perth
2015	Slow Show, GAGPROJECTS \| Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide
2014	RUN, RUN, RUN, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2012	Against Day, Peloton Gallery , Sydney Mariposa (Butterfly), Breenspace, Sydney Book of miracles, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2011	And that's it, Greenaway Art Gallery, Adelaide TOUCH; The portraiture of Dani Marti, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Australia Book of miracles, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2010	Bacon’s Dog, Breenspace, Sydney
2009	Insideout, off site venue: 4 Parnie street, GoMA and Glasggay, Glasgow Time is the fire in which we burn, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2008	One breath below consciousness, Breenspace, Sydney
2007	Glitering Shadows, The Studio, Glasgay Festival, Glasgow Closer, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne Off my noodle, Live Sites, Newcastle Region Art Gallery and Newcastle City Council, NSW
2006	Dark Bones, Citric Gallery, Brescia, Italy The Seven Pleasures of Snow White, Sherman Galleries, Sydney
2005	There is nothing at the end of the rainbow, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne Variations in a Serious Black Dress, Viewing Gallery, Sherman Galleries, Sydney Orifices 2000–2004and Looking for Felix2000, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, NSW
2004-5	Variations in a Serious Black Dress, Canberra Contemporary Art Space, Canberra, travelling to Hazelhurst Regional Gallery, Sydney; Port Macquarie Hastings Regional Gallery, NSW; Bathurst Regional Art Gallery, NSW; Albury Regional Art Gallery, NSW; La Trobe Regional Gallery, VIC; Monash University Art Museum, VIC
2004	Looking for Rover, Sherman Galleries, Sydney Orifices 2000–04,The Esplanade – Theatres on the Bay, Singapore
2003	Variations in a Serious Black Dress, Room 35, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney Portrait of a young man returning a ladybird to the grass, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2002	Blue angels, Galeria Alejandro Sales, Barcelona Mother is crying, Briefcase Project and Block, Sydney
2001	You make me feel like love, peace and happiness, Gallery 4A, Sydney I am forever blowing bubbles, Room 35, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney missing spain, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Sydney Enhance Systems and Orifices,Span Galleries, Melbourne Jamón, La Capella, Barcelona
2000	Thin Wall PB-I,Artspace, Sydney Coco, Rubyayre Gallery, Sydney Sorry I just dropped my guts, The Lounge, Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre, Liverpool, Australia Looking for felix, Firstdraft Gallery, Sydney
1999	WS-S#, Room 35, Gitte Weise Gallery, Sydney

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019	The Fall, curated by Alanna Irwin, DMG, Sydney
2018	Materiality, Home@735 Gallery, Sydney Summer Group Show, DMG, Sydney
2017	Australasian Painters 2007-2017, curated by Artist Profile, Orange Regional Art Gallery, Australia The Public Body 02, Artspace, Sydney The Circle Divine, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne
2016	Immerse,Sandneskulturhus, Sandnes , Norway Collected II, Wangaratta Art Gallery, VIC, Australia Incandescence, Grace Cossington Smith Gallery, Sydney Linescapes, Gatackers Art Space, Maryborough, QLD, Australia
2015	Obey! curated by Paco Barragan , Centro Cultural Matucana 100, Chile LOOP, Video Art Festival, in collaboration with Pinkcourtesyphone, Barcelona, Spain Video Stage- Art Stage Singapore 2015, curated by Paul Greenaway, Singapore Cementa 15, Kandos, NSW, Australia
2014	Adelaide Biennial, Gallery of South Australia Your Nostalgia is Killing Me!, Gallery of Modern Art , Brisbane, Australia One from none: the minimal aesthetic in art , Newcastle Art Gallery, Australia Nervous Tension, curated by Anabelle Lacroix, Careof , Milan, Italy Scanlines, DLux Media, @ Brenda May Gallery, Sydney
2013	Fractions, PINTA Art Fair, video exhibition curated by Octavio Zaya, New York Blake Prize of Religious Art, College of Fine Arts, Sydney Videonale-14, Kunstmuseum Bonn, touring to Moscow during Moscow Biennal. ECONOMY, CCA Glasgow, and Stills, Edinburgh, UK From Madona to Madonna, DA2 , Salamanca, Spain Marked, Cessnock Regional Art Gallery, Cessnock, NSW, Australia DLUX Deluxe Editiions #1,Woolongong City Art Gallery, Rockhampton Art Gallery, Australia OPEN 100, Artangel, UK Fleurieu Art Prize, SA, Australia Woollahra Small Sculpture Award, Sydney
2012	Summer Exhibition,Lausberg Gallery, Toronto Silver 1987-2012,Wangaratta Art Gallery, VIC, Australia
2011	Group Show,Breenspace, Sydney Lets the healing begin, IMA, Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane INHABIT, Third floor, building 2, 92 White Post Lane, London Art of the Ordinary, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne Espiritu de Epoca, Una Decada de Pintura, MIAC, Lanzarote Highly Strung,Peter Potter Gallery, Scotland
2010	Social Documents: The Ethics of Encounter, Stills, Edinburgh CinemaX: what I like to watch, MOCCA, Toronto 100 YEARS: Highlights from the University of Queensland Art Collection, Brisbane Vocal Thoughts, CACSA, Adelaide Cine the Barrio: La Velada de Santa Lucia, Maracaibo, Venezuela Hands On, Hazelhurst Reegional Art Gallery, Sydney
2009	Non Age, Kunstalle Winterthur, Zurich Runing Time: artists films in Scotland: 1960 to now, Scottish Gallery of Modern Art, Edinburgh Biennal de Lazarote: Energy, Crisis, Creation, MIAC, Lanzarote, Canary Islands Ou va la video?, Kaunas In Artm Lithuania, Tina B festival, Prague; Palazzo Ducale, Genova. The University of Queensland National Artists' Self-Potrait Prize 2009, UQM, Brisbane
2008	New, The University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane 50x50, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne Jam, Peloton, Sydney IDENTIDADES: Arte y sexos, Sala Astragal, Gijon, Spain Festival SOS 4.8, Dept. of Culture Region Murcia, Spain Gifts to the collection, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle, Australia Glasgow International, GI 2008, Glasgow Australian, Casula Powerhouse, Liverpool, Australia Plastic Theory, Peloton, Sydney
2007	M.A.S.H. Expanded Painting, coinciding with Miami Basel, Miami Trouble with the weather, UTS Gallery, Sydney Cornice Art Fair, Venice He dominates all, Black Box, Puerto Rico
2006-7	Strange Cargo: Contemporary Art as a State of Encounter, Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle, NSW, touring regional galleries in NSW, VIC and QLD
2006	Tomorrow Now, Foundation Bevilacqua Lamasa, Venice The Projection Room, coinciding with the Liverpool Biennale, Liverpool A man's world, Museum of Brisbane, Brisbane Love Video 2006, Gallery Sad- Artunison-, Moscow VADS Festival Internacional de Video i Arts Digitals, Girona Iondromo Film Competition, M+B studio, Venice Goods to Declare: MFA International, Bezalel Art School, Tel Aviv Celeste Art Prize, Goldsmiths University of London, The Old Truman Brewery, London Marks and Comments, MFA degree show, Tramway, Glasgow and MoCa, Roskilde, Denmark Gridlines,Newcastle Region Art Gallery, Newcastle NSW Il Premio Internacional de Pintura de Castellon, Fundacion Astroc, Madrid SCREAM Sounding Images, in collaboration with Diana Simpson, CalArts, Los Angeles
2005	POST, Residence Gallery, London and Castlefield Gallery, Manchester Il Premio Internacional de Pintura de Castellon, Espai, Castellon Glad Wrap-up, Sherman Galleries, Sydney VAD Festival Internacional de Video i Arts Digitals, Girona Academy Now!, sound collaborations with Diana Simpson and Vivian Barty-Taylor, Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow Good and gruseom, CCA Student Lab Night, CCA, Glasgow Arafura Craft Exchange, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, Darwin New Town Pasadena, in collaboration with Diana Simpson, Armory Centre for the Arts, Pasadena, CA Nuit Blanche, Paris
2004	One Of: Festivus 04, Sherman Galleries, Sydney PistilsI Petals, Pundacio Espais Conteporanis, Girona
2003	Festivus, Sherman Galleries, Sydney Summer Show, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne 25 years of Mardi Gras, Tin Shesd Gallery, Sydney Home Sweet Home: Works from the Peter Fay Collection, National Gallery of Australia, Canberra The Canberra Contemporary Art Space and The Arts Store Award 2003, CCAS, Canberra

SELECTED AWARDS

2013	NSW Artist Grant
2011	Creative Scotland, professional development grant
2010	Residency at Stills Gallery, Edinburgh New York Studio Residency for 2012, Australia Council for the Arts
2009	Gallery of Modern Art residency in conjunction with Gay men's Health, Glasgow
2007	Newcastle Regional Gallery residency, Newcastle, Australia

COLLECTIONS

Art Gallery of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia
MUSAC, Leon, Spain
GoMA, Brisbane, Australia
MCA, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia
Careof, Milan, Italy
The University of Queensland Art Museum, Brisbane, Australia
Chartwell Collection, Auckland City Art Gallery, Auckland, New Zealand
University of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia
Newcastle Regional Art Gallery, New South Wales, Australia
Penny Clive Collection, Detached Gallery, Tasmania, Australia
ArtBank, Sydney, Australia
Wangaratta Art Gallery, Victoria, Australia

Statement by Lois Rowe, 2007

Oscillating between hopefulness and failure, Dani Marti’s work is hinged to a representational paradox. For on the one hand it presupposes belief in the act of portrayal, and on the other hand it tacitly admits portraiture’s inevitable failure to accurately capture. But whether working in the medium of weaving or video, his relation to his subject is consistently fixed: an obsessive, laborious, and often desire-driven attempt to represent something of his subject that is beyond appearances. Something of a deep-rooted lust between him and his subject, something of an essence, something, in other words, beyond surface. But it is surface—quite literally—that we as viewers are left with in Marti’s work, whether in the abstraction of a large-scale weaving or in the flat documentary-style his videos take. There is no invitation to anything deeper than its screen, nothing objectively closer to ‘the real’ other than what one chooses to see and read into it.

Although Marti’s large-scale, woven works invite associations to Minimalism through their cool, reductive, and often literal approaches to material, his process adheres more closely to the precursor of that art historical moment; to more expressionistic ways of working. His relationship to the characters he portrays, whether intimate friend, stranger, or icon is an emotional one that becomes ritualized through both his methods of working and the claustrophobic proximity, which he develops to his subjects through his attempts to portray them. But due to the formal restraints he places upon himself as an artist, through the materials he chooses and the histories that are attached to them, emphasis becomes transferred from expression to the mediated nature of representation. To view his work is to be faced with information that has been rendered through its vital attachment to Marti himself, but it is presented to the viewer codified. Marti’s work is thus an explicit reminder that viewer subjectivity is the only place where the portrait can truly be generated. His gestures toward it are merely our starting points.

Lois Rowe

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