PROPAGARTA // Graham Silveria Martin: „Showing in Romania feels particularly meaningful given the exhibition’s dialogue with Brâncuși and his ideas in relation to reduction, and of getting to the essence of something”

Scottish artist Graham Silveria Martin, a graduate of the Royal College of Art in London, is one of the voices of the exhibition In the Body Lies the Truth. With a portfolio that includes exhibitions at prestigious institutions such as White Cube and Saatchi Gallery, Martin explores the intimacy and vulnerability of the human body through his work. His presence in the exhibition In the Body Lies the Truth at IOMO Gallery brings to the forefront a visual investigation of anatomical detail transformed into an emotional landscape. In the following lines, Graham Silveria Martin provides details about his artistic approach and the role of his work within the context of this exhibition.

Andreea Busuioc in conversation with Graham Silveria Martin:

- How does your vision integrate into the context of this group exhibition at IOMO and how do you perceive the experience of exhibiting in Romania alongside international artists?

Much of my recent work begins with archival images of the body. I’m not specifically interested in reproducing a stable or complete representation, but rather in what remains unresolved – traces of automated processes, the psychological charge embedded in the image, or the sense that something is simultaneously appearing from and disappearing into the surface. From this perspective, the body becomes less a subject I’m simply trying to depict and more a site through which memory, desire, vulnerability, and projection circulate.

Materiality and process are also central to my practice. I typically develop the surface slowly, building transparent layers of acrylic stains and gesso resists, dragged marks, and erasures, so the paintings accumulate a kind of phenomenological history. I like the idea that this accumulation of marks mirrors the exhibition’s focus on the body as something that carries experience physiologically and unconsciously.

Showing in Romania feels particularly meaningful given the exhibition’s dialogue with Brâncuși and his ideas in relation to reduction, and of getting to the essence of something. Brâncuși’s thinking around stripping away excess to arrive at something psychologically and spiritually concentrated resonates with my interest in withholding, ambiguity, and the tension between visibility and what is concealed.

I’m also excited to be exhibiting at IOMO alongside this group of international artists. I’ve been a fan of Justin O’Brian’s work for some time so am particularly excited to see my work sit in dialogue with his. I’m looking forward to showing in Bucharest for the first time as a dear friend of mine Neal Gruer is a photographer and writer based there, and I feel like I have gotten to know the city in some way through his work and retellings.

Read the full article here: https://propagarta.ro/propagarta-in-english/graham-silveria-martin-showing-in-romania-feels-particularly-meaningful-given-the-exhibitions-dialogue-with-brancusi-and-his-ideas-in-relation-to-reduction-and-of-getting-to-the-essence-o/

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