A. R. T.
Martin Wilner: Making History 2010-2011
Audience
Keywords
This catalogue features recent pen, ink, and graphite drawings by Martin Wilner, the artist’s second solo show at the gallery. In his now decade-long body of work, Making History, Wilner creates highly-detailed diaristic drawings based on the monthly calendar. On the verso of each drawing are descriptive texts or images that are integral to the work. Wilner blends elements of cartoon, cartography, text, micrography, and music in an evolving process that transforms news events of compelling personal interest into drawing. Each work coalesces into its own mysterious narrative of the artist’s daily life.
Making History consists of a suite of 12 double-sided drawings focused on the visual dimension of music in concert with text, cartography and representational drawing. The drawings proceed through a series of single step variations from one month to the next. Using media sources selected daily, Wilner developed systems of encoding narrative into musical scores. The results are visual nocturnes based on everyday events that transcend their mundane and often troubling sources in the pursuit of something more lyrical.