Paula Martiesian
During the summer of 2008, in addition to its main show, Bert Gallery will present three “Pocket Shows” installed in the back exhibit space of the gallery. Each of the three shows will feature a different contemporary mid-career artist from Providence. Paula Martiesian, Frank Gasbarro, and Nick Paciorek, have uniquely personal styles and approaches to painting, ranging from fairly realistic cityscapes, to painterly landscapes, to entirely abstract images. Through these shows, we see a range of artistic expression.
The first Pocket Show in July features the paintings of RISD graduate and Rhode Island native Paula Martiesian. Martiesian is well known for her fearless use of bright bold colors and strong brushstrokes to represent the natural world around her. She strives not to replicate the precise shapes and colors of a landscape, but to immerse the viewer in her impression of a scene, to relate a visual and emotional experience through her canvas.
Paula Martiesian graduated from Rhode Island School of Design in 1976 and has been an active painter in Rhode Island ever since. She continued her study of painting with her mentor Gordon Peers, former RISD professor, until his death in 1988. Early in her career she painted a range of cityscapes, still life, and figural works but now focuses almost exclusively on landscape. Paula has been extremely influential in the Rhode Island arts community as a co-founder of Gallery Night Providence and in her current position as the curator of the Bank Rhode Island galleries.
This Bert Gallery show includes nine landscape paintings spanning fourteen years, illustrating the evolution of her style. Martiesian’s canvases reflect changes over time beginning with dark, heavily applied paint, to light, colorful thinly painted surfaces.
Paula Martiesian’s paintings reflect the strong daring style of the abstract expressionists and also of her mentor, Gordon Peers, while never losing a sense of personal identity. The bold choice of colors and sweeping forms are unique to her style, as is her treatment of landscape as natural beauty to be embraced in its untamed state.