Artist’s statement – Martin Stone


My aim is simple, to create art. in  pursuit of this goal I strives to capture aspects of the life, landscape and the people of West Cork and the West of Ireland.

My work has been exhibited widely, including solo & group exhibitions, residencies and commissions, internationally. My solo exhibitions include venues in the UK, Ireland, USA and Australia.

My work is characterized by sensitive handling of figurative subject matter with a fuse of expressionist and impressionist colour, standpoint and painterly qualities; primarily I am a figurative painter but an intuitive painter.
I use rapid brushwork capture the essence of the subject and it is very important to me that the work looks beautiful. I have a boundless love of nature and a fascination for light. Living amid rugged and wild scenery, I strive to recreate the experience of the life, people and landscape of the west of Ireland.
I value the importance of passion, intuition and spontaneity, which I temper with discipline. My work reflects the passions in my life, the landscape, portraiture and the painting of people, “the human situation.” Many of my paintings can be read as caught in a kind of monumental intimacy with daily activities and interaction with others, people working, making music or just going about their daily lives.

Great paintings of the past fascinate me. I'm intrigued by the techniques that artists employed and the subjects they chose. I think it is so important to learn from great art, I am influenced by a diverse range of artists such as Turner, the Impressionists as well as the American expressionist painters, realist painters and the Euston Road School of the 1940’s and 1950’s. “In a world of racket and clamour my work strives to show the quiet, still moments that speak to us all”.