Kenneth Martin

The Estate of the Artist

Helsinki, Galerie Artek, Kenneth Martin: Chance, Order, Change, 1983, cat. no.12, with tour to Galerie Blance, Stockholm and Galerie Nordenhake, Malmo;
London, Serpentine Gallery, Kenneth Martin: The late paintings, 29th June - 31st October 1987, cat. no.5, illustrated;
London, Annely Juda Fine Art, Kenneth and Mary Martin, 11th September - 31st October 1987, cat. no.83, illustrated;
Newcastle, Laing Art Gallery, The Experience of Painting, January - July 1989, with Arts Council tour (details untraced);
Zurich, Stiftung Für Konstruktive und Konkrete Kunst, 9th February - 29th April 1990 (details untraced);
London, Annely Juda Fine Art, Kenneth Martin: the Chance and Order Series, Screw Mobiles and related works, 1952 - 1984, 19th January - 20th February 1999, illustrated, un-numbered catalogue;
Cambridge, Kettle's Yard, Kenneth Martin, 1st May - 20th June 1999, un-numbered catalogue;
London, Annely Juda Fine Art, Annely Juda - A Celebration, 24th May - 28th July, 2007, illustrated.

There is a tiny pin hole to the top centre. There are very minor handling marks visible to the edges, only visible upon very close inspection. There is a faint line of craquelure visible along the centre of the top and bottom edges in line with the stretcher bar. This excepting the work appears to be in excellent overall condition. Ultraviolet light reveals areas of fluorescence which appear in keeping with the nature of the artist's techniques and materials and does not suggest retouching. Tightly float-mounted in a thin white frame.
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In the last two decades of his life painting took particular focus within Martin's oeuvre, and the Chance, Order, Change series dominated much of this output.  This long series of drawings, paintings and prints evolved from early studies begun in 1969, and followed a complicated procedure by which the artist would mark a drawing with a point, moving clockwise round a rectangle.  Further lines would then be generated by taking numbers (from one to twenty-five), two at a time, at random from a bag.  The artist then chose eight pairs of numbers for the works, instigating the change-element of the title by turning through 90 degrees and repeating the process before transferring to the canvas.  As Andrew Forge notes:

"With all these works there is a double invitation: to explore the drawings as statements about an inventive process; and to combine the produces that are generated by that process.  The paintings represent such products; they occur when a configuration having particular force and vitality is set aside from the process and given a richer embodiment" (Andrew Forge, Kenneth Martin, Ex. Cat., 18th April – 17th June 1979, Yale Centre for British Art, New Haven, p.52).