Elucidate exhibition, July 27th – Aug 17th 2019. With words by Clementine Ford.

Above is the beautifully designed invitation to my upcoming exhibition – Elucidate.

It opens Saturday July the 27th at 1 to 3PM and the exhibition runs until August 17th. At Scott Livesey Galleries – 909A High St, Armadale, VIC.

I was also very lucky to have Clementine Ford write a piece about the works – it was really ace of her to give me the time and words. Thanks CF.

Elucidate by Clementine Ford

The first time I saw Lily Mae Martin’s work, I was overcome by a range of different feelings. Terror. Pain. Anxiety. Sadness. And amidst all of this, the overwhelming sense of recognition. Martin speaks to an unspoken aspect of womanhood and motherhood in particular that is so often ignored. Her work is confronting and brave, unshackled from the fear of niceties that women so often feel we need to conform to.

The sense of being bound and restricted is common in Martin’s pieces, and Elucidate brings this to the forefront. Her representations of women shielded by their hair and tethered in ropes call to my mind the image of Medusa. Mythologized as a monster and enemy to men, Medusa’s story has been used for centuries as a warning to women who exist outside of the margins of social acceptability. Martin explores the idea of the monstrous feminine, using sparseness, shadow and the imagery of shackles to conversely represent women in our most untethered forms. The blooming bellies of pregnancy speak to a power that has terrified patriarchy throughout history. Faces sheathed in veils of hair speak to our inscrutability, while ropes binding our arms across breasts remind us of the ways this power has been brutalised and tamed. 

It’s impossible to view Martin’s work without a sense of anger. Not at the artist herself, but at what she is seeking to uncover and give voice to. Like Medusa, Martin’s figures are mythical in nature. In the age of #MeToo and riding the crest of a new tidal wave of women’s power and liberation, Elucidate makes clear what history has tried for so long to bury – that women are so much more than we have been taught we are allowed to be. We are complicated, horrifying, rageful, connected and powerful. What is considered monstrous in us is our blazing humanity and life. Our bodies have been abused and tormented, but we alone are the ones who own them and control the direction of our stories. 

Martin’s ability to depict so clearly what strikes fear into the heart of man is astonishing. Elucidate is a condemnation of history and patriarchy, but it is also a shattering call to arms to reconnect with our true nature. I am grateful to have been exposed to Martin’s work, and cannot wait for others to experience the revelation of self that each and every one of her pieces calls to.

 

News!

I keeping meaning to update and have not, apologies. Getting back into the new year routine has been harder than I thought. Ya know? Husband works in the unpredictable film industry and though it is interesting it’s definitely keeping me on my toes. Last minute changes are the new normal. There are other things too, but they are not my story so I’ll shuddup.

Life, hey?

NEWS –

Two things, I have a drawing shortlisted in the DOBELL DRAWING PRIZE

I am thrilled to be in it, this was the only prize I was applying for this year as prizes cost MONEY and heartache 😛 . This one really matters to me as it is one of the most important art prizes in drawing in this country. Many thanks to the judges Ben Quilty, Michelle Belgiorno and Simon Cooper.

The exhibition will be showing at the NAS Gallery in Darlinghurst, Sydney. 28th of March to the 25th of May. Let me know what you think if you visit the exhibition!

AND

I have a solo exhibition this year!!!!!! All details yet to come but the key dates are:

Opening Saturday July the 27th at Scott Livesey Galleries in Armadale, Melbourne. Exhibition will run from July 27th to August 17th.

I have been working really hard on this one and am really, really excited about it.

Ok so I’ll leave you with the image that will be in the Dobell and next post I will show you some quick, smaller drawings I did through the summer holidays.

Inexorable, 105x75cm by Lily Mae Martin, ink on cotton paper- 2018
Drawing photographed by Gene Hammond-Lewis .

New little drawings

Hello – I have been working hard on making more little drawings to take down to Melbourne to sell. I have a folio there with smaller, unframed works. They have been going at a steady rate so it is time to make some more. Here’s a sample of some that I have completed so far..


Hands
Ink on cotton paper
19x14cm
Lily Mae Martin


Softer, softest
Ink on cotton paper
19x14cm
Lily Mae Martin


Feet
Ink on cotton paper
19x14cm
Lily Mae Martin

 

 

I may frame this one –


Delicate
18x25cm
Ink on cotton paper
Lily Mae Martin

 

 

I’m trying to make my work not so dark.. Which doesn’t always go to plan. I seem to have ways I do things even though I want to change them up a bit, it’s hard to break habits.

Any interest in any of my work please contact Scott Livesey Galleries – they are awesome – at info@scottliveseygalleries.com
I also have a number of works hanging on their walls at the moment as part of the WINTER SALON 2018 and some in the stock room there.

Also –


It’s school holidays so I’m off to try and be a fun mum / person for this fortnight.

x

Launch of New Drawings

lmm

The launch of my New Drawings and Darren McDonald’s Something Worth Fighting For at Scott Livesey Galleries last night was wonderful. Both exhibitions were opened by Scott Livesey and Dr Sarah Engledow, from the National Portrait Gallery. Sarah said that the three things women hate about their bodies are toes, bellies and body hair – which feature heavily in my works. She said she had never seen so many toes and that after looking at the works she began to look at her fellow humans with more sympathy. I was really touched by her words.

All photos are by Gene.

1

eric

sands

mug

nandb

crowdshot

sandl

Thank you to everyone who came and spread the word about the exhibition. It is on until the 24th of February. All works are for sale.
Scott Livesey Galleries – 909A High Street, Armadale Melbourne

New Drawings – Exhibition

new_drawings_lily_mae_martin

Dear readers,

I am very pleased and proud to announce that I have an exhibition opening next Thursday the 11th of February, 6 to 8PM at Scott Livesey Galleries in Melbourne.

I’m really proud of the work that I have made, and look forward to seeing it all together in the gallery.

The exhibition runs until the 24th of February – which covers two weekends so that should be handy for a lot of people!

Best to you,
LMM

All the drawings

untitled2015_lilymaemartin
Untitled
By Lily Mae Martin
77 x 57 cm
Ink on paper 2015
( This is the smallest one )

emerging_lilymaemartin
Emerging
112 x 76cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper
SOLD

grappling_lilymaemartin
Grappling
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

untitled_lilymaemartin
Untitled
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper
SOLD

may2015_Untitled_lily_mae_martin
Untitled
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

Ive_never_had_a_friend_like_you_lily_mae_martin
I’ve Never Had A Friend Like You
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

01_lily_mae_martin
Untitled
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

workingtitle02_lilymaemartin
Untitled
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

workingtitle03_lilymaemartin
Untitled
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

workingtitle04_lilymaemartin
Untitled
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

TheLongestWinterIHaveKnown_lilymaemartin
The Longest Winter I Have Known
105 x 75cm
By Lily Mae Martin
2015
Ink on paper

bloodbonesheart_lilymaemartin
I Am Blood and Bones and A Beating Heart

Artist statement

As an artist, I have always been interested in exploring representations of femininity, femaleness and the female body in my work. One of the primary preoccupations of my work to date has been the internal world of women as communicated by the body. This is in part a response to contemporary representations of femaleness: the female body is ubiquitous, presented visually everywhere, in contexts that range from the crassly commercial to the sacred and divine – and yet these representations, to me, have always felt devoid of the female experience as I know and understand it.

In this series of drawings, I propose to examine and represent aspects of the female physical and emotional experience through the medium of ink on paper.
The composition will isolate full-length portraits of nude women within the negative space of the paper, simultaneously drawing attention to the details of each individual body, (toenails, hair, the cracks and crevices in skin) while the larger scale of the works will allow me to experiment with negative space as well as their imposition on the exhibition space and the viewer’s consciousness. This will involve the further development of my drawing technique, which focuses on rendered and layered line in tension with the white of the paper to create contours, form, light and shade.

The composition will be designed to produce an aesthetic that forces the viewer into discomfort, awareness, and ultimately empathy. To present the body as simultaneously beautiful and ugly, complex, contradictory, aspirational and despairing. The use of nudity allows the body of the subject to become its own canvas, without pretence; its tensions and twists communicating an interior dialogue without words. In this work I am inspired by the emotive power of the documentary drawings of Käthe Kollwitz; the technical skill of Albrecht Dürer; and the intimacy, vulnerability and strength in the portraiture work of photographer Sally Mann.

This project represents an important departure from my previous work, which, while exploring similar themes, has focused primarily on my own experiences, using my own body as a subject. The exploration of another person’s physicality is in many ways more difficult: it is interrogatory; a dialogue must be created between artist and subject, as well as between artist and audience. In this way it will be an important development for my skill as an artist, to communicate a multiplicity of experiences using a simple but timeless medium. Similarly, using models as subjects will open up the possibilities for the piece aesthetically, as it will allow me to have more control over the placement of the form, and more direction of the physical positioning and control over the composition of light and shade for each piece. (LMM, 2016)

For any inquiries/ sale please contact Scott Livesey Galleries
SCOTT LIVESEY GALLERIES
909A HIGH STREET, ARMADALE
VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA, 3143

T: +61 3 9824 7770
F: +61 3 9824 7771
E: INFO@SCOTTLIVESEYGALLERIES.COM