WALTER MARTIN (Norfolk, Virginia, USA, 1953) &... Lot 5

WALTER MARTIN (Norfolk, Virginia, USA, 1953) & PALOMA MUÑOZ (Madrid, 1965). "Traveler XLIII, 2002. Glass ball. With label on the base signed by the artists. Measurements: 20 x 16 cm. The artistic tandem of Walter Benjamin and Paloma Muñoz has specialised in miniature art for more than 20 years. Their dreamlike - and somewhat naïve - aesthetic is governed by the use of the glass snow globe as a vertebral element, which serves as a backdrop to tell suggestive tales of lonely travellers in frozen wastelands. Each glass sphere, mounted on a wooden base, contains an arctic topography of snow-capped hills and rocks, canopyless trees whipped by the icy wind, and desolate landscapes. The present work (from the Travelers series) is therefore a clear representative of his particular artistic language. Walter Martin studied at Old Dominion University and Virginia Commonwealth University; Paloma Muñoz studied at the Complutense University of Madrid and the UNED. She is the daughter of Spanish artist Paloma Navares and sister of cinematographer and producer David Muñoz. Martin and Muñoz have been a professional and personal duo since they met in 1993. They live in Milford, Pennsylvania and maintain a studio in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. They also often work in Spain. Acclaimed by art critics around the world, Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz were commissioned in 2001 by the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority's Department of Arts and Design to create a permanent installation for the Canal Street underground station on the A, C and E lines. Their installation, entitled "A Gathering", consists of 181 black bronze birds placed throughout the station. Aperture Foundation published a monograph of his work with a history written by Jonathan Lethem. The Museum der Moderne Salzburg has organised a retrospective exhibition of the work of Walter Martin & Paloma Muñoz in 2019. They have participated in exhibitions in galleries all over the world (they are represented by P.P.O.W. Gallery in New York, Isabel Hurley Gallery in Malaga and Mario Mauroner Arte Contemporaneo in Salzburg and Vienna). His work can currently be found in museums around the world, including the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in Helsinki, the Museum of Art and Design in New York, the Centro de Arte Contemporáneo de Málaga, the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid and the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chattanooga, TN. They are also in the private collections of prominent institutions, including the Progressive Art Collection, Bloomberg L.P. and the 21C Museum Hotel in Louisville, KT.