Born in 1952, Martin Ball is best known for his large scale
portraits - often of iconic New Zealand artists. He began his
trademark style of hyper-realistic paintings and graphite drawings
while attending Elam School of Fine Arts in the 1970s under the
tutelage of Garth Tapper, Robert Ellis and Pat Hanly, a period in
which, by his own admission, Ball was heavily influenced by
Impressionism, Post Impressionism and the drawing style of
Picasso.
In the 1980's, Ball veered in a new direction. He began
constructing his own images rather than using derivative elements
from his influences and to this end, Ball began a series of works
based on flora in the Wintergarden at the Auckland Domain. The
resulting works, with their jungle-like intensity, paved the way
for the botanical still-life studies that followed. In particular,
the protea flower became a recurring image depicted in a range of
styles - from the traditionalism of the Dutch still-life painters
to the effervescent colour of Paul Cezanne.
In 2000, Ball's fascination with portraiture prevailed with an
exhibition of five works at Auckland's Gow Langsford Gallery. The
works marked an enormous shift in scale with paintings (up to 2
metres square) that engulfed the peripheral vision of the
audience.
The subjects - Arnold Wilson, Stanley Palmer, Dick
Frizzell, Robert Ellis and Ralph Hotere - were painted direct from
posed photographs of the artists in Ball's studio and often
displayed subtle pictorial elements that referred to aspects of the
source photograph like grain and paper texture. The circumstances
of Ball's extreme realism prompted prominent critic TJ McNamara to
note, "it is the skill of [Ball's] painting that ensure these works
inhabit a different world from that of photographs and add to their
remarkable presence."
In 2005, Martin Ball was the first New Zealand-based
artist to be selected for the prestigious Archibald Portrait
Exhibition at the New South Wales Gallery, an exhibition that
recognises excellence in contemporary portraiture. Ball was judged
a finalist in this exhibition. In 2006, Ball was also judged a
finalist in the Wallace Art Awards, consequently winning the
Peoples Choice Award. Finally, in 2008, Ball was awarded the
Packing Room Prize at the Archibald Portrait Exhibition for his
2007 portrait of Neil Finn. Ball is represented in public
collections throughout New Zealand
including the Auckland Art
Gallery,
Christchurch Art
Gallery, Waikato Art
Museum and Sarjeant Gallery and is currently Head of
Painting at Manukau School of Visual Arts.