MARTIN SMITH
Having spent the last thirty five years as an Advertising Art director I've worked with some exceptional painters, illustrators, photographers, typographers and model makers and I have always marveled at the way they can bring my ideas to life.
I had always been comfortable with my position as the creator of the "idea" and recognized my role as someone who had run the first leg of a relay race and now had to rely on others to get it over the line.
Only recently have I tried to combine the "thinking" with the actual "doing".
My paintings like my work have to be the result of an "idea" a concept. The concept of this series of paintings is iconic moments or images from my lifetime as seen on the front covers of various magazines.
I love the combination of image, type and narrative of the headlines that make these some of the most poignant and dramatic advertising messages of my time.
The paintings are supersize oil on canvass and make no attempt to be ultra photo realistic copies of the originals. They are paintings.