Ashforth recently added another piece of artwork at its Greenwich Plaza Office complex. Featured in the lobby of One Greenwich Plaza, Plus Minus I (2015) by artist Martin Kline is an encaustic on Belgian linen, measuring 64” x 118’ x 2.5”.
Martin Kline’s work references Western and Eastern cultural practices, drawing from art history, philosophy and nature. He is mostly known for his work in encaustic, the mixing of pigment with bees and synthetic wax. A technique that is as challenging to perfect as it is compelling to behold, Martin creates incredibly textured surfaces where the works become a phenomenological experience for the viewer. Kline’s work is the subject of many critical essays by noted authors including Carter Ratcliff and Barbara Rose. His work is in many private and public collections here and abroad.
“[This] series is referred to with the title Tabula Rasa. The term is a Latin phrase for “blank slate” or “erased slate” and refers to both the ancient stone tablets covered in wax for writing then scraped clean to be re-used and to the much more recent theory that human beings are born without mental content. I like that some of these paintings have the appearance of being scraped but were not. We bring what we have learned and experienced to art as creators and spectators. The once clean slate is now brimming with the possibilities of endless interpretations and associations by each of us.”
Martin Kline (on Tabula Rasa: New White Paintings)
