Twins

Goast Dragon Mountain, 1981, ink on board
15 x 15 inches each/38 x 38 cm each 
Private Collection



Martin worked on the Twins series throughout the 1980s. They are based on mirror images, and depict a light-hearted view of the spirits in nature. The subjects are natural and supernatural beings, many strongly influenced by Mayan ceramics. Twins are created in pairs. An image is painted with colored ink on one board then blotted onto another. The process continues in this way, painting on one side or the other, until both images are complete. In most cases the images are outlined in black ink. Each drawing is framed separately, but are meant to be hung together in whatever juxtaposition is most pleasing. 

"The Twin series is emblematic of drawing, imposing composition as a final statement, rather than as a starting matrix.... Showing mirror images makes the viewer's eye move between them, instigating a kinetic mental process that finds matching elements across the implied axis of symmetry."

Casey FitzSimons, ArtWeek


Untitled (Phoenix), 1982, ink on board
15 x 15 inches each/38 x 38 cm each 
Estate of Don and Joan Gilbert Martin









Untitled (Fish Catching Bird #1), 1985, ink on board
 15 x 10 inches each/38 x 25 cm each
Collection of Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT









Untitled (Fish Catching Bird #2), 1985, ink on board
15 x 10 inches each/38 x 25 cm each
Private Collection










Fish Putter, circa 1985, ink on board
15 x 15 inches each/38 x 38 cm each 
Collection of Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art, Logan, UT












Acrobat, 1987, ink on board
15 x 15 inches each/38 x 38 cm each
Estate of Don and Joan Gilbert Martin








Waiter, 1987, ink on board
15 x 10 inches each/38 x 25 cm each
Estate of Don and Joan Gilbert Martin








Danza del Pescado, 1987, ink on board
15 x 15 inches each/38 x 38 cm each
Private Collection





(photos of art work: Tony Grant © 2017, Rick Pharaoh © 2017, Joan Gilbert Martin)