My works are challenging to me on many levels as I seek a balance between organic formation and painterly construct. If I sense that it is not clean whether my work was formed from heat, air, water, or a painted expression, then I feel that the piece is a success. My intention is to find a natural sense of existence that is void of overt narrative or implied suggestions. I want the atmosphere around my work to vibrate with energy and balance.

Organic Expressionism is a succinct way to describe my process. I start with a clear acrylic panel and apply heat, air, water, brush, and pigment in reverse order to create my paintings. In reverse glass painting, the artist works from the foreground to the background with the initial strokes being the most imperative and the final being of very little consequence— the inverse of a canvas.

By engaging forms of interlaced ovals, linear movements, arcs, and fields on color, I seek to produce a unique visual expression in each painting. As a botanist who crosses variance orchids to create a beautiful new strain, I fuse various applications and forms to evolve my paintings. In the end, I paint to create a strong aesthetically engaging presence that evokes a calm excitement of natural beauty.

— Christopher Martin

Original Paintings

Painted on the reverse, acrylic on acrylic paintings have been Martin's signature style for over 20 years. Honed finishing and canvas are available. Martin's work has been exhibited internationally and is widely collected.

Limited Editions

Produced under the strictest collaborative workflow, the limited edition collection features the detail of the original paintings. Museum-quality scanning techniques and state-of-the-art printing are used to produce the editions. Available in variable dimensions.

Photographic Works

Chris often makes photographic observations of natural phenomena. This exploration of colors, patterns, and shapes later gets incorporated into the studio work. The photographic collection is available in cotton and metallic papers, either framed or face-mounted on acrylic.

PRESS & WRITE-UPS

Cavallo de Corsa | Ferrari Owners Charitable Foundation | Volume IV

The Artist | Christopher Martin

Jackson Pollock once said, "Every good painter paints what he is.” Christopher Martin embodies this statement. As a painter, philanthropist, and family man fond of the outdoors, the palpable qualities of his personality shine through in his work as clearly as the sun reflecting off the snow in winter.

At his home in Aspen, with a serene backdrop of coniferous trees, crisp air, and expansive outdoor spaces, Martin’s creative muse is the natural beauty of the land and nature itself. For Martin, passionate with his words when describing his work, inspiration comes in many forms, expressed in ethereal works of equal diversity.

“My work has been referred to as ‘organic expressionism,’ so nature has a profound aesthetic influence on my painting. If a work is successful to me it must look as much formed by nature as it was painted by hand… My Halo series evokes the droplets of rain landing on in the calmness of a
pond. Another series, Kavala, is inspired by the shadows that branches cast on the snow; Vireo, by watching the spiraling dives of raptors from the deck of my studio; and Luna is inspired by the feminine lines of a woman and the color of the moon.”

• Met Life - Houston, TX

• Omni Hotel - Dallas, TX

• Circuit of the Americas - Austin, TX

• Former President George Bush Sr. - Houston, TX

• Hillwood Company - Dallas, TX

• Mirage Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV

• Wolfgang's Steakhouse - Beverly Hills, CA

• Ritz Carlton - Tucson, AZ

• Deloite & Touche - Dallas, TX

• Anheuser Busch - St. Louis, MO

• Vincent and Elkins - Dallas - Houston - Washington

• Motorola - Austin, TX

• Cushman Wakefield - Dallas - New York

• MGM Grand Hotel & Casino - Las Vegas, NV

• Westin - Napa Valley, CA

• Equinox Gym & Spa - Dallas, TX

• Nordstrom - Portland, OR

• Boeing Areospace - St. Louis, MO

• Mandarin Oriental - Dallas, TX

• Wachovia - Houston, TX

• Stroz Friedberg - Dallas, TX - Chicago, TX

• Starbucks - Seattle, WA

• Gensler Architecture - Dallas, TX

• Adera Inc. - Stockholm, Sweden

• Tailwater Capital - Dallas, TX

• Hyatt Hotels - Dallas, TX - Key West, FL

• American Financial International - Houston, TX

• Mercantile - Dallas, TX

• Palms Steakhouse - Palm Springs, CA

• Lazarus Property - Dallas, TX

• Verve Communications Inc.- Dallas, TX

• Ameri-First Securities - Dallas, TX

• Oxy Medical, Inc. - Dallas, TX

• Arcturus Corporation - Dallas - New York

• Credit Unions, Inc. - Phoenix, AZ

• Penbrook Capital, Inc. - Dallas, TX

• SCA Technologies, Inc. - Dallas, TX

• North Texas Wind Symphony - Dallas, TX

• Blake Agency, Inc. - Chicago, IL

• Art Source, Inc. - Chicago, IL

• 1401 Elm Place Commission - Dallas, TX

• Budco - San Antonio, TX

• Wachovia - Houston, TX

• 1505 Elm - Dallas, TX

• McKinney One Place - Dallas, TX

• Metallo Design - Hong Kong

• Thirty Thirty Bryan - Dallas, TX

• Raging Wire - Ashburn, VA

• Weinberg Properties - New York City, NY

• Vess Oil Corporation - Dallas, TX

From his original experiments on shop windows to his current monumental masterpieces, the evolution of his craft is influenced primarily by Nature. His colors, his movements, his subjects, and even his methods, are inspired by events in nature captured behind a pane of glass. It is this juxtaposition between the clean, polished final work, and the highly gestural abstractions depicted, that give his artwork such drama. By removing the painterly aspects one would expect from such dynamic pieces, a tension between structure and abandon is achieved, mirroring that same balance in nature.