The imagery in Martin Edge’s new body of work MARTIN! reflects his journeys throughout Queensland that he has embarked upon from his Strathpine home and studio. However, in speaking of the exhibition’s title he states, “My art is about my journey’s and love of the state in which I live!”
Since first being represented by APA in 2011, his art has evolved with growing finesse in technique and subject complexities, as well as imaginative detailing and the need for compositional resolution. One cannot help but respond to the sense of joie de vivre expressed in Martin’s brightly coloured paintings. An unfailing positivity and sense of humour always accompanies Martin on his journeys through both landscape and creative process. A prime example is Brisbane Afternoon and his love of the Brisbane River and its City Cats.
Having been given a commission recently, Martin had been exploring the coastal attractions of Cleveland for inspiration and the wonderful “tongue in cheek” painting of Martin Swimming With The Whale Shark and the superbly colourful The Coral Cod have been the result of this exploration. Many of Martin’s recent paintings depict urban landscapes frequently visited but he says that each encounter “is like seeing the place for the very first time”. The Story Bridge is such. Connecting Brisbane’s northern and southern suburbs, the heritage-listed steel expanse is the longest cantilevered bridge in Australia. In the painting Two City Cats it is rendered as transecting the picture plane.
In the past few years Martin has enjoyed enormous success and acknowledgement from his peers.
In 2020 he was commissioned by Brisbane’s GOMA to paint a huge mural for their Summer Exhibition and in 2022 was his record-breaking Postcards from the Edge exhibition at HOTA Children’s Gallery that attracted a huge number of visitors. 2023/2024 and his 4 month long Survey Exhibition at Pine Rivers Regional Gallery was a resounding success with specially produced merchandise being very popular!
In 2024 Martin was awarded Citizen of the Year in The City of Moreton Bay Australia Day Awards.
Martin has achieved remarkable acclaim during his painting career. He is a long-standing ambassador for Autism Queensland and so when Brisbane hosted the 2019 INAS Global Games, his paintings were projected onto the William Jolly Bridge’s pylons each night for a week.
His work appears in state and national institutional collections including: HOTA -Gold Coast, Queensland; Parliament House Art Collection, Canberra; State Library of Queensland, Brisbane; ArtBank Collection; Maitland Regional Art Gallery, NSW; Moreton Bay Regional Gallery, Queensland; St. James College Collection, Brisbane; Westmead Children’s Hospital, Sydney; St. John of God Hospital, Perth; Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital, Brisbane; Gold Coast University Hospital; Ken Done Private Collection, Sydney; Randa Collection, Melbourne.
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