Martin Finnin’s intuitive approach to colour and composition is at its most confident in new work at the John Martin Gallery, London, writes Mark Ewart
Martin Finnin’s studio is hidden away in the old marsh area of Cork City. His is the archetypal atelier, with a Calor Gas heater that did little to combat the near Arctic conditions at the start of the year and the November floods that preceded them. It is also bursting with paint pots, conceptual drawings, old, and new and nearly new canvases (Fig 2). The space seems to capture something of the spirit of this determined, Limerick-born artist, who is currently preparing for a major show at the John Martin Gallery in London which opens in May. This exciting episode in Finnin’s career is a far cry from the persona non grata who was at odds with art colleges in Dublin, Limerick and Cork – dropping out of two, with the third denying him entry altogether. A badge of honour perhaps when down in the pub as a twenty-two year old – now a vindication of his determination to succeed. He wistfully recalled from those heady days that he was ‘more like a method actor than a painter’, struggling to conform with the structures imposed by formal art institutions and partial to surreptitious installations that were created unbeknownst to his tutors.
