Printing one color on top of another creates a third. Generating various effects through the layering of ink is the essence of printing, the fundamental quality that appealed to Karel Martens. Using found objects such as toy parts, hardware, and scraps of steel, he has printed a variety of surface shapes on aged and textured papers. Martens is defined by his numerous striking printed works made using layers of clear color.
The publication in 1996 of Printed Matter/Drukwerk, a rich compilation of both experimental works and designs done in the course of his professional practice, brought Martens global recognition as a force to be reckoned with and led to a rapid rise in how his work was assessed. An expanded and revised second edition was published in 2001, followed by a further expanded and revised third edition in 2010, and the book has begun to exercise no small influence on designers in Japan.
This is Martens’ first solo exhibition in Japan. It takes the form of a new installation of previous commissioned works and independent experimental works at a Tokyo gallery. At the same time, new work will also be presented as a further evolution of the Kinetic Box Construction (1964) that sparked so much of Martens’ subsequent work. This new work shows the time difference between Amsterdam and Tokyo and gives a sense of the physical distance, and perhaps even the cultural differences, between these two locations.
Transcending both the sensibility currently captivating Martens and an overwhelming sense of distance, Martens’ studio in Amsterdam and the works created there are reproduced as a new experience at ggg in Tokyo.