MARTINE EMDUR- THE ART OF IMMERSION What could possess more elemental duality than water? It is the source of life and the prime force of nature, it is both sanctuary and menacing enigma. As a perpetual muse and technical challenge it is a subject that painter Martine Emdur can fathom in work after work. And with this she has created a unique continuum where the nuances of light, shadow, scale and protean buoyant movement become more palpable with each brush stroke and each new composition. Just as clouds disintegrate and re-form, water is in a continual state of renewal and restless movement.
She works in light and shadow but the physical reality of the ocean is always in the foreground. Step into the image and you are immediately in over your head, suspended, weightless, sometimes spellbound.
“The scale is key, I want people to stand in front of my paintings and get the feeling of being immersed. And I think about the temperature of the water even more than the light. The temperature is everything in my paintings. I love a warm-blooded body in a cool body of water. I love the light and warmth from the sun streaming through the top of the picture where the body has pierced the surface and then all the shadows give the sensation of the cold, more mysterious water below.”
