Martin Claydon’s work explores the overcast history of Australian colonisation and the impact left on concurrent behaviour. Aiming his work toward topics such as masculinity, politics, religion, gender and the media, he explores the contentious matter under the rug, the comfortable middle class citadel and the apathetic electorate.
Paragons of Virtue, is a collection of new work by Martin Claydon which explores the Australian identity through topics such as masculinity, politics, religion, gender and the media. He asks the viewer to consider derivative generational apathy and preprogrammed behaviour. Claydon interrogates the ideas behind what makes someone Australian whilst examining the confident prejudice of those already comfortably converted.
As an English born Australian, Claydon can’t help feeling partly responsible for his ancestral history. Driven by an interest toward the sharp end of acceptance; fear of accommodating the foreigner, the perverse sense of entitlement and the residual puritanical smog that coats the day.
Claydon explores real issues encircling identity, displacement and a sense of belonging, which all feed back into his practice reflecting a complex narrative surrounding the Australian identity.
Claydon's practice seems to consist of a heavy drawing component in which he stretches and squeezes a muscular presence into concentrated human forms. Often the starkness of the image serves to convey the intense reality surrounding it whilst the figurative representation labours to contain itself.
Whilst there are indications of ofter influences in his work such as the activism of artists such as Nancy Spero and Leon Golub, and the concentrations of images found in the work of Leon Kossoff, Francis Bacon and Georg Baselitz. Claydon has developed a hand uniquely his own, conveying an image which can’t be ignored for its primal masculine instincts yet in the same instance undermines the masculinity residing in much of his subject matter.
ARTIST BIO
Martin Claydon’s work explores the overcast history of Australian colonisation and the impact left on concurrent behaviour. Aiming his work toward topics such as masculinity, politics, religion, gender and the media, he explores the contentious matter under the rug, the comfortable middle class citadel and the apathetic electorate.
Taking suggestions from everyday life, the work often conveys personal experiences as well as historical references aiming to convey the coexisting zeitgeist. Favouring the viewers reaction rather than his own interpretations of the work, Claydon prefers a self-contained stance when it comes to offering the viewer external assistance in steering their conclusions. That being said the work often exists on a number of levels with the most successful works establishing an idea while still remaining indeterminate. An occurring theorem in Claydon’s practice is “an overall presence”. Meaning he often expects each work to add itself to the manifestation of the total body. Claydon’s practice is one firmly grounded in expressive figuration in which he carves out his image of the pervading theme with an unshakeable physical line.
Claydon was born in 1989 in Hertfordshire, England and has lived in Sydney since 2002. He has recently completed a BA Fine Arts from the National Art School, Sydney and currently resides in the city where he lives and works.
Paragons of Virtue, is a collection of new work by Martin Claydon which explores the Australian identity through topics such as masculinity, politics, religion, gender and the media. He asks the viewer to consider derivative generational apathy and preprogrammed behaviour. Claydon interrogates the ideas behind what makes someone Australian whilst examining the confident prejudice of those already comfortably converted.
As an English born Australian, Claydon can’t help feeling partly responsible for his ancestral history. Driven by an interest toward the sharp end of acceptance; fear of accommodating the foreigner, the perverse sense of entitlement and the residual puritanical smog that coats the day.
Claydon explores real issues encircling identity, displacement and a sense of belonging, which all feed back into his practice reflecting a complex narrative surrounding the Australian identity.
Claydon's practice seems to consist of a heavy drawing component in which he stretches and squeezes a muscular presence into concentrated human forms. Often the starkness of the image serves to convey the intense reality surrounding it whilst the figurative representation labours to contain itself.
Whilst there are indications of ofter influences in his work such as the activism of artists such as Nancy Spero and Leon Golub, and the concentrations of images found in the work of Leon Kossoff, Francis Bacon and Georg Baselitz. Claydon has developed a hand uniquely his own, conveying an image which can’t be ignored for its primal masculine instincts yet in the same instance undermines the masculinity residing in much of his subject matter.
ARTIST BIO
Martin Claydon’s work explores the overcast history of Australian colonisation and the impact left on concurrent behaviour. Aiming his work toward topics such as masculinity, politics, religion, gender and the media, he explores the contentious matter under the rug, the comfortable middle class citadel and the apathetic electorate.
Taking suggestions from everyday life, the work often conveys personal experiences as well as historical references aiming to convey the coexisting zeitgeist. Favouring the viewers reaction rather than his own interpretations of the work, Claydon prefers a self-contained stance when it comes to offering the viewer external assistance in steering their conclusions. That being said the work often exists on a number of levels with the most successful works establishing an idea while still remaining indeterminate. An occurring theorem in Claydon’s practice is “an overall presence”. Meaning he often expects each work to add itself to the manifestation of the total body. Claydon’s practice is one firmly grounded in expressive figuration in which he carves out his image of the pervading theme with an unshakeable physical line.
Claydon was born in 1989 in Hertfordshire, England and has lived in Sydney since 2002. He has recently completed a BA Fine Arts from the National Art School, Sydney and currently resides in the city where he lives and works.
