Pairing Similarities: D.W. Martin

In Pairing Similarities, sculptor D.W. Martin presents a series of works in cast bronze and aluminum that couple parts of the human anatomy with inanimate objects, especially chairs. The pairings, odd at first glance, invite a deeper investigation of our relationships with the objects that surround us.

In conjunction with the installation in the Holstein Gallery, large steel fabrications are on view in both the wildflower garden and in the inner courtyard of the museum. These colorful structures integrate the structural qualities of elements from the built environment, such as electrical pylons and telephone poles, into gestural and often anthropomorphic images. Martin is absorbed by the sculptor’s age-old fascination with the human figure, and the way it is echoed in the mundane, ostensibly non-figural objects that surround us. Martin’s curiosity takes something ordinary from our daily visual noise and creates something extraordinary that we have never seen before.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website.