What I love so much about art is how the simplest of images can sometimes convey more meaning and emotion than the most complex of images. I’m not talking about a banana to a wall or painting squares of solid color, although people have found meaning in those. I mean artists like Bahrull Marta, who are able to take a simple palette of black, white, and grey and draw profound images from a bleak background. Marta’s shapes are blurred and almost chaotic, but faces rise out of a fog that should be expressionless but instead tell full epics with their countenances. Working in painting, ink, ceramics, digital tools, and collage, Marta is able to translate his visions into many different media but they all convey the same sense of horror, abyssal depth, and unrequited pain. When I look at his subjects, I feel like I’m seeing through a distortion into souls that see with eyeless sight and speak with mouthless voices. I see death and sorrow, but also life and its resilience. Check out some of Bahrull Marta’s art below…
