LAST night the highly anticipated exhibition of recent works by Borenore-based artist Martin Coyte was launched at Orange Regional Gallery. Entitled Milk and honey, it takes as its starting point the Biblical expression “a land flowing with milk and honey” and features a range of large scale oil paintings, delicate watercolour and ink works on paper and mixed media sculptures.
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In this week’s column I talk to Coyte about these works and his practice more broadly.
LL: What prompted you to explore the theme of milk and honey?
MC: Milk and honey was not necessarily a theme that I set out to explore. I was conscious of the term and have always been interested in the imagery that it conjures up. I initially set out to make an image that spoke of the promise of the term itself. That first image just kept offering more.
LL: Humour is a key element in this series, has it always been important in your work?
MC: Humour allows flexibility around the seriousness and level of importance that human beings bestow on certain things that often don’t deserve such reverence. Art for instance can get carried away with this importance and lose sight of what it is really saying. Using humour I am not setting out to make fun of something. It can often be a way into a work. After all I am not looking for a complete belly laugh, often just a chuckle. You see lately, I have become interested in the common language and how some people can create such imagery with their bringing together of words, milk and honey for example.
LL: A short documentary film, of you making an artwork, was produced as part of this exhibition; what was the experience of making the film like? Did it provide you with any insights into your art making practice?
MC: It is always interesting stepping outside yourself and looking back at how other people see. Michael Caulfield, who directed the film wanted to emphasise the process and I guess the process is a big thing in my work. It is interesting viewing the work through the camera. Part of the process is stepping back. You spend so much time inside the work that you can make the wrong decisions and you wind up losing the engagement.
LL: Godfrey Miller is often cited as an artist who has influenced your work - are there other artists that have also been significant influences? What did you learn from them?
MC: Of course Godfrey Miller helped me see, he showed me how to arrange and relate things around the idea. For me his work is about a genuine presence, a humility that speaks through the process of making and seeing. There are many others who have helped. Pierre Bonnard along with Milton Avery are fine colourists. Alberto Giacometti and Constantin Brancusi with their engagement with form, and Barry Flanagan with his humour. The list goes on ...
LL: Do you have a favourite work in the exhibition?
MC: No I don’t really have a favourite work. The work that I am involved with at the time is my favourite work. I have fond memories but that is different from a favourite work.
LL: What do you hope visitors will take away from your exhibition?
MC: With some artists the narrative is the important thing and with others it is the pictorial presence of the work. If the work is to have any justification it has to generate meaning in perceptual terms rather than verbal terms. For me it doesn’t matter if the image is representational or not, so long as the artwork remains autonomous by focusing the viewer’s attention on the work as an artwork, rather than the work as a token of something else.
LL: What can we expect from you and your work in coming times?
MC: More looking, thinking, drawing, painting and making. That’s it.
Milk and honey, recent works by Martin Coyte is on display until June 7.
Last weekend for Push the idea, a survey. This popular exhibition must close on Sunday.
Exhibitions are free.
