With de Kooning, acrylic on canvas, 57 x 49 inches, 2016

ADA Gallery presents, "PERHAPS HE SHOULD HAVE STAYED IN THE CITY", a solo exhibition by painter Bernard Martin.

Opening Friday September 1st and on view until October 1st, this is Martin's third solo exhibition with ADA Gallery since 2010. A native Virginian and long-time Richmond resident, "Perhaps He Should Have Stayed In The City" presents an elevated mastery of his medium but with added grit and punch in the work's meaning. Long recognized for hiding paintings inside of paintings, Martin dispels the visual illusion by coupling his paintings with text. His stories and jokes reveal a deeper connection in the artist's psyche while also divulging his playful position about being an artist, the politics of the art world, and the illusions of representation. For instance, in Cube, Martin renders the Necker Cube, the impossible object in which human optics confuse the perspective, along with the text, "Things are not as they appear, nor are they otherwise". The optical illusion joined with the riddled text becomes a technique for inquiry, a guide to contemplation.

Bernard Martin is professor emeritus of art at Virginia Commonwealth University since 1992, where he was the first chair of the Department of Painting and Printmaking. Martin has had numerous solo exhibitions throughout a decades long career, including three separate traveling exhibitions with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Since 1965, Martin has exhibited in over 200 national and international group exhibitions. He has been the recipient of two Fellowships with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and a National Endowment for the Arts Visual Arts Fellowship, and the Pollak Lifetime Achievement Award. Martin's work is part of several public collections including - The National Collection of Art, Washington, D.C., the Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA, and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA. Martin created two novel covers of esteemed writer, Tom Robbins and is part of many private collections.

Exhibition dates: Sept. 1 - Oct. 1, 2017

ADA GALLERY 228 WEST BROAD STREET, RICHMOND VIRGINIA 23220

for more images and information contact John Pollard adagallery@gmail.com