Martin Strid

Lives and works in Stockholm, Sweden

Artist statement

Touching with your eyes / Feng Shui Some who suffer from cortical blindness still react to visual stimuli, in the form of activity in the amygdala. When I heard this, it struck me why feng shui is real and why I am calmed by nature. There are patterns, shapes, and contrasts that we react to before we see them. For example, one might jump away when a snake appears in the lower field of vision, before one actually “sees” that it is a snake. My paintings are both for what you see with the eye and what you feel when the world touches your eyes. They should give the room a sense of life, depth, and space. Organic patterns You recognize beauty instinctively. It just feels right. If it is organic it's familiar on a bodily level. There is no need to dissect it for you to understand, it strikes you before thinking. As you are inspired by the dreams you don't remember. Space I wanted to paint something new. Something without a comparison. That which is between things. That which is between what we know and what we don't know. That which continues in all directions without having a center. That which resembles nothing but is everywhere. A vast nothing to relate to. Metaphors and space Something has been taken from the unknown and made the known larger. At the same time, the unknown remains inexhaustible. Metaphors create space. Maybe that's what physicists mean when they say that space is infinite but at the same time expanding. Space can be built from metaphors, but metaphors can...

Artwork