Anton Martineau

From an early age, he learned the art of house and decorative painting, as well as how to style all kinds of plants, animal forms, and objects for decorative and advertising purposes. Supported by a number of fellow painters, including Jan Sierhuis, he followed his instincts and the path that lay before him. Anton Martineau’s body of work contains narrative elements. Newspapers, letters, shoes, and everyday objects—just like love, eroticism, and fear—form his themes. Starting with small ink drawings, he embarks on his journey and continues his endless quest, which seems to have no end because, as he himself claims, the work is never finished! Regarding his poems, he says: “A poem must be charged through and through. You bring forces together so that tension arises. It must vibrate through your body down to the smallest fibers. He is equally driven as a painter and draftsman. Smooth sketches often precede his work in paint. He discards nothing during the creative process. Fortunately, because his drawings, too, fascinate and amaze. After all, he masters abstraction with charcoal, pencil, and chalk like no other.