Sue Martin

Sue Martin’s work incorporates various media, including painting, printmaking, and photography. Her subject matter is fundamentally about figures within a landscape, walking or floating above, together, or alone. They seem to be drawn from bygone images of people within wide spaces. They have a dreamlike quality. It is as if she is looking at her subject through a wide-angle lens. They are largely derived either from Sue’s personal experience or from local archival photographs.  An artist with an ability to capture a fleeting moment in time, through her use of chiaroscuro, or contrast of light and dark. More often than not, her works are painted using a limited palette of earthy tones.

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Martin is an accomplished artist who over the years has experimented with various media and disciplines. Part of her current work incorporates transfers on steel and encaustic paint.  The surface that is being painted upon is as important as the image itself:” It’s not about making a painting but rather about making space” Her growing passion for this alchemical process has led her to explore the spatial considerations within a painting even further, laying down marks and then pushing them into the distance, through each added layer of beeswax.

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Each painting or print is achieved through a meditative, creative process. Each mark that is made is reflected upon. The process is a work in progress that has its own journey, much like the migrant labourers and mine workers that feature so prominently in her work. Since 1999, Martin has had a series of solo exhibitions in recognised South African Galleries. Sue’s growing passion for this alchemical process has led her to explore the spatial considerations within a painting even further, laying down marks and then pushing them into the distance, through each further layer of beeswax.

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Each painting is achieved through a meditative, creative process. Each mark that is made is reflected upon. The process is a work in progress that has its own journey, much like the migrant labourers and mine workers that feature so prominently in her work. Since 1999, Sue has had a series of solo exhibitions in recognised South African Galleries.