Martin Wehmer (b. 1966) 

    German born painter Martin Wehmer is a very sensual and direct painter. His generous brushstroke swings over the canvas and shape imposing physical forms. The attentions to the very detail, the beauty of a single leg, a hand or a woman’s lips are the main protagonists in his works.
    His randomly chosen objects or body parts seem to hold a much bigger scenery, whereas the painting actually reveals a certain close-up. In the work Tui the nude presents her well shaped legs while the rest of her body seems to exist beyond the canvas and remains unseen; Huang Shoutao shows parts of a cycling glove while the whole arm and tips of the glove are cut off; Kou shows full lips in the center of the painting which are impressively presented on the large scale canvas while most of the face remains invisible. It is this invisibility or cutouts, which gives his paintings a fascinating mystification and allows space for self-interpretation. And yet his compositions are not the products of spontaneous, impulsive actions but precisely reflected and created.
    With an international exchange program Martin Wehmer came to China in 2008, which enriched his creativity and working procedure. As one of the curators of the 2009 Beijing 798 Biannual Martin enjoyed the exchange of the international artists on a creative level. The titles of most of his works are kept in pinyin, referring to a globalized art scene where limitations of languages should be obsolete. The titles being only readable to the Chinese-speaking viewer on one hand causes a mystery to the Western viewer on the other hand and yet reveals a very personal story.
    Lecturing at renowned art academies all over China, his direct contact with young students allows him an intensely creative discourse and gives his students the opportunity to form a strong international voice.
    His abstract paintings are frank and carry a radical visibility due to simplified segments filling the work. His dynamic combination of colors generously applied to the canvas through thick oil paint brings us closer to the very detail of the painting. The blunt close-ups attract and fascinate the viewer of his expressive two-dimensional paintings.
    The banality of simple gloves or a detail of a human leg is aestheticized by Martin Wehmer’s great scenic skills. Clear symbols and solid lines lead to a work between concrete representation and formal abstraction.
    Having spent several years in China and using a strongly expressive brush he sees the calligraphic stroke as an influence on the abstract expressionism of the West itself.
    Martin Wehmer’s figurative and vivid works reveal an intensity of experience.
    By Ronald Kiwitt
    Jan. 2014