NEW YORK, NY.- Peter Blum Gallery is presenting an exhibition of new paintings by Martha Tuttle entitled Touch / Stone. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the gallery.
Martha Tuttle’s practice embeds natural elements in the forms of her paintings. The compositions emphasize materiality, employing physical processes such as dyeing, weaving, and sewing that permeate each of the works that are colored with naturally derived substances. Passages of translucent stretched silk are dyed with plant matter and iron while others are painted with stone pigments, creating pools of subtle elemental colors. Visually, the marks on the silk begin to suggest the cracking of a geological topography. Shapes of thick wool, which the artist spins and weaves herself, as well as painted linen, add sculptural fields to the converging materials. Appearing to emerge and recede behind these sections, visible stretcher bars create compositional balance rather than solely serving as support. Many of the diagonal bars are blackened by torch fire, further reinforcing the invocation of the elemental.
The addition of carefully integrated found and fabricated stones punctuate these multi-paneled compositions. Extending the space of the paintings beyond and between the individual stretchers, these sculptural objects further the presence of physicality, touch, and the use of natural materials in Tuttle’s wall works. The stones are sourced from the Southwestern United States through Tuttle’s own collecting and that of people with whom she has an affinity, creating a web of knowledge and connection around the minerals. Other “stones” included in the exhibition are cast into glass or aluminum, which appear alongside the found rocks. For the artist, this represents an attempt at a dialogue with substances and timelines that often feel outside of human reach. Together the minerals and stone simulacra resonate with larger questionings of the exhibition concerning how relationships can be established with the geologic.
The convergence of macro and micro elements within the works begins to interweave with the artist’s larger practice of bringing together vast expanses, such as landscape or skyscape, with the focused examination and study of details including the geological and biological. As Tuttle suggests, these connections ultimately visualize expanded, and often overlooked, kinships. She asks whether these panels can serve as metaphors for our own human intimacies with our surrounding world and geologies. And further, if these sensitives to our surrounding natural environments can further empathize and enhance our human connections with one another. Reflecting on the meanings of the word “touchstone” and its connotations, and the relationship between stones and compassion, Tuttle writes: “It can be so tender to bond with a stone. To move it from apartment to apartment, to give it a prime spot on your windowsill. Perhaps, to be personally invested in something geologic is in a small way to care more about connections than boundaries. Whatever can grow our empathy, even an iota, is worth keeping in hand.” Aiming to conjure these notions, Tuttle’s tactile paintings intuitively connect touch with matter.
"What would a touchstone be in an abstracted sense? An object that physically or metaphorically offers an element of clarity, some information that guides, gives sense. A way to measure purity, yes, if purity is stripped down to mean that which is core, meaningful, unconfused by supplementary details or distractions. A lodestar that requires your touch to function.
Or a touchstone can simply mean foundational. Something to return to when seeking a grounding, or grace. I love this word that places a rock in the hand like a beach stone that makes its way into your pocket rather than being cast back onto the sand."
— Martha Tuttle, Touch / Stone, Peter Blum Edition, 2024
