Design and Art Australia Online

Trained as a painter, Dani Marti studied fine art in New York and Sydney, gaining a Master of Arts at the College of Fine Arts, University of New South Wales, in 2000. In 2006 he was undertaking a Master of Fine Arts at Glasgow School of Art, Scotland.

Marti’s artistic process is driven by the symbology of everyday industrial materials, craft practices, conceptualism and formalism. He creates dynamic woven constructions and sculptural installations that combine intellect and a sensual, Baroque minimalism. These works have a strong inflection of portraiture and resemble swatches of fabric that capture personalities, moods and intensities. As such, they recall the intimacy of fabric in contact with the body and represent not only states of feelings but also regimes of class and power and the idiosyncrasies that relate to the mental and emotional aspects of sexuality.

Many of Marti’s woven constructions are abstract representations of friends or people whom he admires (for instance, Rover Thomas and St Francis of Assisi), and include synthetic fibres, rubber, barbed wire, copper wire and cotton thread. The patterns and textures of these works suggest individual identities similar to the coded signatures of DNA. His installations are characteristically immersive and large-scale, juxtaposing theoretical concerns and articulating the private and social perceptions surrounding the body.

Since 1998, Marti has held over 19 solo exhibitions and was a finalist in the Helen Lempriere Sculpture Award (2001, 2002). In 2005, he was selected for the Beijing Biennale. Among his most recent woven commissions are Phillip and Katherine (European Monarchs) (2004), for the AMP Building, Circular Quay, Sydney, and Different Trains (2003) for Melbourne’s Crown Casino. In 2002-03, Marti worked with Dale Jones Evans Architects to conceptualise and design wind-wall installations for Docklands/Mirvac, Melbourne.

Writers:

Murray-Cree, Laura

Date written:

2006

Last updated:

2011