Martha Diamond

Sky in the Diamond

By Luigi Cazzaniga, Jeff Wright. Interviewed on May 14, 1994. In COVER Magazine, May, 1994 issue.

Robert Miller Gallery

Amid a bluster of bravura passages, buildings cluster in urban canyons. Architecture takes on a figurative shadow. Lit windows in the night become bright wraiths, each brushstroke palpable, unique and personalized. Martha Diamond is a painter of great space. She cites churches and cathedrals as the kinds of spaces "that make people feel terrific." In her trademark style, abstract realism is draped over an evocative narrative. A blue shadow turns a tall building into a sentinel. Rows of dwellings become calligraphic. Flourishes and orchestrated streaks assemble into portentous compositions with seemingly kinetic potential.

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Do you remember your first painting?

The first painting I tried to copy was a Chinese painting of a horse. Later I was trying to find out how to be a painter and when I did I recognized it.

What about rhythm?

The new paintings are dimensionally in a ratio of two to one. Numbers effect people. A lot of repetitions makes things look grand—like the way things are disposed has a lot to do with how people will respond to them. I like how things get repeated.

Who did you like when you were younger?

Roualt and Vuillard.

What excites you while you paint?

To see the color take its place in space and to see the illusion happening while you're putting the paint on. Also to be surprised if your lucky.

How do you chose the colors of the painting?

I'll pick a color by the image.It's also going a little bit anti-taste. I like a little more energy. Color is very physical and it effects your eyes—it makes you feel—I like the physical sensation of color. I go for more of it.

Where do you get the idea?

The idea for the painting isn't, 'I will paint that building.' In this one there's a soft dissolve—enough mist so the light dissolves—you dissolve the atmosphere and go from there. I paint buildings that will do whatever it is... my fascination is usually with human-made spaces.

I think of painting as a performance. How well you do something counts. So if you do it well enough it becomes art.

Why do you do three of the same idea?

I think of painting as a performance. How well you do something counts. So if you do it well enough it becomes art. Why not use a study and play it in a musical way—do it a little harder, softer, contrasted or staccato. I realized I could do that now and make it clear. Techniques are variables I can use to tune it up a little differently. Each of the paintings are different because when you change one part all the relationships between all the parts change. I think of finding more than creating.

Why do you paint?

It gives people a lot of pleasure, like a song. Being human is the complicated part of it.

Are you an abstract realist?

You can read paintings. A vocabulary can spill from them—contrast, verticality, dimension, space, rhythm... color. Composition.