ARTIST STATEMENT

The foundation of my paintings begins with multiple layers of color. The interplay between light and dark creates a spatially infinite space, like looking into a reflecting pool or through mist. Simple hieroglyphic-type shapes positioned between the layers act as a compositional anchor, subtly revealing their ghostlike presence within the ambiguous space. Like an echo, they exist in a liminal space between past and present.

I spend a lot of time observing the natural world and engaged by its inherent tension. I am acutely aware of what has been lost to me through development and climate change, as well as the more immediate register through which I experience change in the moment. My work exists at the intersection of observable space and memory, which is more fluid and interpretive.

As an artist, I want to distill that which feels urgent, fleeting and ephemeral about my life into something tangible. Like a map my art practice, and the work that flows from it, provides me a way to mark where I've come from and offers a path forward.

About

Martha Sedgwick received a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from The School of Visual Arts in 1978. She has exhibited widely throughout the United States and is currently represented by A.I.R. Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. Her most recent solo exhibitions were in October 2013 and 2015 at The Painting Center, NYC and April 2012 at Stephen Rosenberg Fine Arts, NYC.

Her work is included in many private and public collections, including the W Hotel Group, McKinsey and Company, and Golden Artist Colors.  

Sedgwick lives and works in New York City and Truro, MA.