Running through March 30 in the Kingston Gallery’s Main Gallery, Nat Martin’s “Over Days” exhibition invites the viewer to play a game of iSpy with new sculptures, prints and some photography, primarily completed within the last few years. Inspired by his daily life, knicks-knacks — and artists such Joseph Beuys and others of the modern and Fluxus movements of the 1960s and ‘70s — Martin reinvents recyclables and life’s little moments. The show also features some revisited projects completed in a new fashion for the show. All the works in “Over Days” are on view for the first time.
A moment of a typical New England morning routine is captured in “Untitled V,” 2024, resin and mixed media. The sculpture — a frozen over Dunkin Donut’s iced coffee cup — perfectly captures what it looks like to find Friday’s mobile order frozen in your car on Tuesday morning after a snowy long weekend. A clear, plastic-y piece of a bunny rabbit sticks its ears out of the top of the cup. Martin mentioned that many of the objects he works with are presented to him by his children. He then incorporates them seamlessly into his sculptures, almost like a game. Perhaps it’s something left over from an Easter candy basket or crafted like the ice. It will be nice to see these in person at the gallery to really begin to decipher their meaning.
Despite the playfulness that surrounds the exhibition, the show’s palette is quite neutral and monochromatic. “Dying Printer Cherubs,” 2016, inkjet print, is a digitally layered print of a cherub. Martin’s process involved the final use of a broken laser printer, working it until its end to distort an image of the baby angel. Not only does Martin also use the objects around him, he uses his tools to the bitter end. The process resulted in a gritty and textured appearance, reminiscent of tapestry despite the print being completely flat.