Sunshower
acrylic on canvas 6’ x 4’
Art Fair Philippines 2013, Paseo Gallery
SOLD
Frost, Dross, Gold
acrylic on canvas
5’ x 4’
Ysobel Art Gallery
SOLD
Fire Shut Up In My Bones
acrylic on canvas
4’ x 3’
Ysobel Art Gallery
SOLD
Eyes Wide, Wider
acrylic on canvas
5’ x 4’
Altro Mondo Gallery
SOLD
From After Caravaggio, a group show with Jason Montinola, Lawrence Borsoto, Tyago Almario, CJ Tañedo, Pedro Garcia II, Kaloy Sanchez and Orley Ypon.
Now Gallery, August 4, 2012 to September 1, 2012
In the 1600s, during a period of major internal reform within the Roman Catholic church, the Arts also underwent a radical shift from the prevalent intellectually sophisticated Mannerist Art to the more direct, simple, visceral style of Baroque Art. This was one of the main drives that fueled the innovations of Italian painter, Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio. Contrary to the Mannerist approach, he did not work from drawings nor idealized his figures but painted straight on the canvas working from live models. What these models represented was a major theme in Caravaggio’s body of work. They were common men and women, fellow artists, a courtesan — sinners playing religious roles. According to British art historian, Simon Schama, ”…It was about the sinner, not a saint… what the Church was looking for and what Caravaggio was born to do… make something sacred out of the lives of the squalid…the wretched of the earth to be saved.” (excerpts from Simon Schama’s The Power of Art, BBC).
After Caravaggio is a tribute to one of the most instrumental artists in the formation of the Baroque school of painting.
“Caravaggio as Bacchus” Acrylic on Canvas, 4’ x 3’
Based on The Young Sick Bacchus, also known as the Sick Bacchus or the Self-Portrait as Bacchus. An early self-portrait by Caravaggio, dated between 1593 and 1594.
“Mario Minniti” Acrylic on Canvas, 4’ x 3’
From Caravaggio’s work, The Musicians (1595). Mario Minniti was the central figure in the painting carrying the lute. Born in Sicily, Mario arrived in Rome in 1593 where he became Caravaggio’s friend, collaborator and model.
“Il Suo Caravaggino” (his own little Caravaggio) Acrylic on Canvas, 4’ x 3’
Based on Caravaggio’s piece, David with the Head of Goliath. Caravaggio has depicted himself as Goliath, while the model for David has been identified as “Il Suo Caravaggino” (“his own little Caravaggio”), which most likely refers to Cecco del Caravaggio, the artist’s studio assistant in Rome.
“Matthew” Acrylic on Canvas, 4’ x 3’
From the piece, The Inspiration of Saint Matthew (1602). Commissioned by the French Cardinal Matteo Contarelli.
“Fillide Melandroni” Acrylic on Canvas, 4’ x 3’
From the painting, Judith Beheading Holofernes, (1598-99) from the deutero-canonical Book of Judith. The model for Judith was most likely the Roman courtesan, Fillide Melandroni.
About Me
Martin Honasan (b.1976, Quezon City, Philippines) is a graduate of the Ateneo de Manila University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, (Psychology and Communication Arts clusters). He worked as visual artist in advertising (1999-2001), then as managing partner in his own design firm (2001-2004) prior to pursuing painting full-time. Honasan began his career as a watercolorist painting street scenes & figures, but in 2010 he started exploring acrylics on figurative & some abstract works on canvas.
akosimartin@gmail.com
Artist Statement
Since 2011, a large part of my body of work has been influenced by Abstract Expressionism, a movement often divided into two classifications, one of which is Action Painting or Gestural Abstraction, typified by the works of Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, or Franz Kline, where the artist’s brush, hand gestures, sometimes even the movement of his body, are evident on the canvas. According to American art critic, Harold Rosenberg, the Action Painter turns the canvas into “an arena in which to act…what was to go on canvas was not a picture but an event.” On the other side is Post Painterly Abstraction, a term coined by art critic, Clement Greenberg, represented by artists like Mark Rothko, Ad Reinhardt, or Barnett Newman; their body of works show an absence of gesture, favoring a more anonymous execution, a mood of stillness, and silence.
I’m interested in using the physical language of abstract expressionism, its active and static, raw, gestured energy, and anchor it on figurative work, particularly faces.
Having a background in psychology, and as a portraitist, I am fascinated by facial expressions, its subtle nuances, and the messages they convey. I find that faces are dense with narrative detail; in some cases the direction of gaze alone affects the countenance on a person’s face. I enjoy grafting these facial details with abstractions organically, as if the face is a continuous, natural development of the textured forms and vice versa.
Sometimes the faces I paint are a result of a form of Pareidolia, a psychological phenomenon where one perceives or imagines significant visual patterns in random data. Classic examples of this are the Man in the Moon or the Moon Rabbit, seeing animals in clouds, and in some cases, even religious apparitions. In my work, it is a more deliberate process when I look for figurative or facial elements developing on my expressionist abstractions.
Aesthetically, I want to mimic the layers of effects, brought about by the passage of time, accumulating on the surface of objects, such as erosion, moisture, rust, dirt or decay. Similarly, my purpose is to simulate an accumulation of disparate “events” on the surface of the canvas, glazing them layer after layer until they accrete or homogenize into figures. Symbolically, I do this to suggest finitude, boundaries, human frailty, a fragmented identity, but also to express transience, ephemeral beauty, rebirth, transcendence, hope, redemption. Recurring themes in my work address questions of origin, meaning, purpose, identity, morality, and destiny.
Exhibitions
2005 Nine Lives, Art For Space Gallery, Alabang Town Center, Alabang, Muntinlupa
2006 38 Years, The Saturday Group Show, SM Megamall Art Center,
Ortigas Center, Pasig
2006 The Saturday Group Paints Bohol, Art Center,
Shangrila Mall, Mandaluyong City
2006 Spectrum 10, Spectrum 10, Uva,
Greenbelt 2, Makati
2006 Spectrum 10, Spectrum 10, ArtisTree Gallery,
Shangrila Mall, Mandaluyong City
2006 Art Spectrum Glazes The Cube,
The Cubicle Gallery, Cainta, Rizal
2007 39 Years, The Saturday Group Show, SM Megamall Art Center,
Ortigas Center, Pasig
2007 Tao, Tempt Asian, Megastrip,
Megamall, March 31 - April 30
2007 Non-Sense, White Box Studio,
Cubao Expo, Araneta Center, October 15-29
2007 The Saturday Group Art Book Launch,
Shangri-la Plaza Mall, Dec. 15
2008 Black and White,
ArtAsia Fine Art Inc. SM Mega Mall, April 2
2008 Homage To Mr. Malang, The Saturday Group,
SM Megamall Art Center, Ortigas Center, Pasig
2008 Red Letters, Tintero Art & Design Studio,
Q.C., June 2
2009 Worlds Within: Saturday Group Anniversary Show, The Saturday Group,
SM Megamall Art Center, Ortigas Center, Pasig
2009 The Parables of Christ,
My Little Art Place, San Juan, Aug. 15
2010 Art at the Shang, Shangrila Atrium,
Shangrila Mall, Pasig, July
2010 Phases, Yellow Door Gallery, Power Plant Mall,
Rockwell, Sept. 24 - Oct. 10
2011 Love Letters, Yellow Door Gallery, Power Plant Mall,
Rockwell, Feb. 4 - 20
2011 Ten, Ysobel Art Gallery, Serendra,
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, May 21-June 9
2011 Manilart ‘11, Artes Orientes Gallery, NBC Tent,
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, July 16-19
2011 Digging In The Dirt, solo show, Yellow Door Gallery,
Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, October 7-22
2012 Love Letters, Yellow Door Gallery, Power Plant Mall, Rockwell, Feb. 3-13
2012 After Caravaggio, NOW Gallery, EcoPlaza Building, Makati City, Aug. 4 - Sept. 1
2012 Pure Imagination, Altro Mondo, Greenbelt 5, Makati City, Sept. 4 - 14
2012 Then We Shall See, (2nd Solo Show) Ysobel Art Gallery,
Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, Nov. 17 - Nov. 27
2013 Art Fair Philippines, Paseo Gallery,
The Link, Parkway Drive, Ayala Center, Makati City, Feb. 7-10
Publications
2004 Artist Series: Martin Honasan, Cityguide Magazine, September-October
2004 Martin Honasan, Catalog Magazine, March
2004 Handycams Bring Home The Bacon, Lifestyle Magazine, April-September
2005 An Art Show, Nine Lives, AAVA News, October 8-14
2005 Barbie Almalbis: Parade, Music CD inlay art, Art Spectrum
2006 Life & Times, The Manila Times, August 14
2010 Business World, Weekender, October 14
2011 Freedom of expression, Business World, October 11
2011 Brushstrokes from a blessed life, Philippine Daily Inquirer, Lifestyle, October 16
2011 The endless gaze in Martin Honasan’s art, GMA News, October 25
2012 View From A Higher Ground, Manila Bulletin, Arts & Culture, May 21
Education
1998 Bachelor of Arts, Interdisciplinary Studies, with Communication Arts and Psychology Clusters, Ateneo de Manila University
Lights
Acrylic on canvas
4’ x 6’
akosimartin@gmail.com
Substitution 2
Acrylic on canvas
4’ x 3’
Substitution
Acrylic on canvas
4’ x 6’
God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. - 2 Corinthians 5:21
For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light - Ephesians 5:8
akosimartin@gmail.com
Scarlet To Snow
Acrylic on canvas
4’ x 3’
Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. - Isaiah 1:18
NFS
SOLD
Now I Know In Part
Acrylic on canvas
4’ x 3’
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. - 1 Corinthians 13:12
akosimartin@gmail.com
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