Artsy Shark Features Dave Martsolf, November 2020
Regarding the Artwork of Dave Martsolf
Statement
Dave Martsolf has been drawing and painting for over 40 years, since turning away from studies in architecture at MIT, circa 1967-70, to focus on the Fine Arts. Initially, he was intrigued by surrealism, and applied skills in photorealism to create complex surreal oil canvases with a dark flair. In the 1980’s these abilities earned him the Juror’s Prize at the “UNH Revisited” Alumni Show in 1981, and the Sawyer Award for Painting at the 38th Annual New Hampshire Art Association Exhibition at the Currier Gallery of Art in Manchester, NH (1985). Later, this same time period of his artistic career was awarded the Grand Prize in the Art List’s worldwide on-line Artist of the Month Contest in 2018.
After an interim period of over 30 years in corporate America as a quality manager, Martsolf was finally able to return to his artistic passion full-time. In 2017 Martsolf began painting abstracts some of which became what he now calls the Dance series. These dance paintings highlight the energy and artistic honesty contained in original sketches on paper that are then enlarged and copied onto canvas using a computer projector. The projected image is then redrawn lightly with pencil or pen. A colorized version is then created on a laser-printed copy of the black and white sketch using colored pencils. Using this colorized version as a guide, the oil paints are then applied to the canvas copy.
The free-form line sketches run the gamut from those that suggest objects understandable in our day-to-day 3-dimensional world to totally abstract work, i.e., the Dance series. Dance pushes the original line to become the artwork itself. The lines are emboldened with a variety of line widths of black oil paint with bold background colors to intrigue the eye in a dance filled with suggested motion.
During the 2020 pandemic, Martsolf turned again back to the surreal, but this time with a more positive outlook, both in subject matter and in cerebral conception. He also began The Good Heart series of large scale portraits of current important figures in politics and science with who Martsolf feels an affinity. His portrait of Kamala Harris has already been sold. Joe Biden has been completed, with RBG, MLK, Anthony Fauci, Angela Merkel, Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama, John Kasich, John McCain, Mitt Romney, Al Gore, and others planned. In the future Martsolf hopes to continue painting in all three of these developmental directions.
Press and Resume (last 12 years only)
2021 - Exhibitions
"January Members Salon" - @ the W Gallery, Wayland, MA
"Color it Green" - Group Show - ALL Arts Gallery, Lowell, MA, Jan 8 - Feb 28
Solo Show - Greenberg Gallery, Arts League of Lowell, Lowell, MA - June
(on-line), Nov 2020
"Eighth Annual One" - ArtsWorcester, Worcester, MA, September
"Resilience" - Members' Show - Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, September
"Faces" - Group Show - ALL Arts Gallery, Lowell, MA, Feb 28 - Apr 19
2019 - Martsolf's artwork was featured in an article in the Merrimack Valley Magazine's June 2019 issue
Click here to read the article in the magazine's online edition.
2018 - Martsolf received a Capsule Review in the May issue of Artscope magazine, and an interview in July with the Boston Voyager on-line newspaper. He also gave a 1-hour presentation for Methuen Community TV on his artwork that is still available in their website series "Artist in the Studio".
2018 - Martsolf was named Artist of the Month by the ArtList.com.
Reviewed by Artscope Magazine's Jan 5, 2012 E-mail Blast! publication
"When realism and surrealism collide, you get Dave Martsolf. He has the skills and trained hand to make his paintings graphic and true to life, which he pairs with his theoretical, conceptual imagination. It is not very often that we come across an artist so grounded yet so fanciful, all in the same instance.
Martsolf's work is fresh and original. He takes the everyday and ventures with it into the unknown, a journey that results in his astonishing art. Even some of his most far-fetched pieces posses an aura of sanity and organization, dispelling any notion of the irrational or unconscious typically associated with surrealism."
Also Reviewed by Artscope Magazine Jan-Feb 2012 Edition in Capsule Previews
"Galatea Fine Art starts 2012 with three exhibitions intended to get you thinking. “David Martsolf: Unbridled Imagination” is a visual, watercolor-painted pendulum ride swinging between Realism and Surrealism. After making a name for himself as an artist to watch in the 1980s, Martsolf’s been a digital imagery pioneer for the personal computer generation — his work includes making screensavers for the Damsel Software Group. He’s escaped the vortex to return to the artistic style that had him labeled “an excellent draftsman, a master of arbitrary space and a colorist of more than ordinary competence.”
Past Biography, Education, Shows and Awards
Dave Martsolf, born 1949 in Manhattan, Kansas, lived his early life in western Pennsylvania, moving to New Hampshire at age 12, where he resides today.
Education
Massachusetts Institute of Technology 1967 - 1970 Architecture
University of New Hampshire 1970 - 1973 Fine Arts, Art History
University of New Hampshire 1983 - 1985 Bachelor of Arts in the Arts
Solo Shows
ALL Arts Gallery/Greenwald Gallery, Lowell, MA, 2021
Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, 2019
Parish Center for the Arts, Westford, MA, 2019
Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, 2018
Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA, 2012
Awards
Award - January 2021 - Chosen as one of 15 finalists for Artwork of the Year 2020 at Singulart.com .
Merit Award, "2020 Artist's Choice Competition", Grey Cube Gallery (online), 2020
Second Place - "Weather Art Competition" - Art Room Gallery (online) 2020
1st Prize, “From All Sides”, Arts League of Lowell, MA, 2018
Certificate of Excellence, Artavita.com’s San Diego On-line Art Contest, 2019
Certificate of Excellence, Artavita.com’s 26th On-line Art Contest, 2018
People’s Choice Award, “Honoring Gaia”, Arts League of Lowell, Lowell, MA, 2018
Grand Prize, The Art List’s on-line Artist of the Month Contest, 2018
Certificate of Excellence, Artavita.com’s 24th On-line Art Contest, 2017
National Juried Shows
2020 Artist's Choice Competition, Grey Cube Gallery (online), Nov 2020
Weather Art Competition, Art Room Gallery (online), Oct 2020
5th Annual Colorful Abstractions On-line Juried Art Exhibition, Fusion Art, Nov 2019
Electron Salon, Los Angeles Center for Digital Art, Los Angeles, CA, Jan 2018
3rd Annual Colorful Abstractions On-line Juried Art Exhibition, Fusion Art, Nov 2017
3rd Annual Figures & Faces On-line Juried Art Exhibition, Fusion Art, Oct 2017
Gallery 25N.com & Art-Competition.net “Dreams 3” on-line Art Exhibition, Aug 2017
Caladan Gallery “Reality” on-line show, Dec-Jan 2011- 2012
Water: A National Juried Photography Exhibition - Photoplace Gallery, Middlebury, VT July-August 2009
Regional Group Shows
"January Members Salon" - @ the W Gallery, Wayland, MA - January 2021
"Color it Green" - Group Show - ALL Arts Gallery, Lowell, MA, Jan Feb 2021
"Eighth Annual One" - ArtsWorcester, Worcester, MA, September 2020
"Resilience" - Members' Show - Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, September 2020
"Resilience" - Members' Show - Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, September 2020
"March Members Salon" - @ the W Gallery, Wayland, MA, March 2020
"Faces" - Group Show - ALL Arts Gallery, Lowell, MA, February-April 2020
"Transitions" - ArtsWorcester, Worcester, MA, March-April 2020
"Water", ALL Arts Gallery, Lowell, MA, January-February 2020
"January Members Show", @ the W Gallery, Wayland, MA, January 2020
"Arts Wayland Small Works Exhibit" , @ the W Gallery, Wayland, MA, December 2019
"100 and Below", ALL Arts Gallery, Lowell, MA, December 2019
"Holiday Show", Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, December 2019
"Members' Exhibition" at ArtsWorcester, on view December 6, 2019 thru January 11, 2020
“Art of the Macabre”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, October-November 2019
“Illustration in Black and White”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, September 2019
“Out of the Ordinary”, Arts League of Lowell, Lowell, MA, June-July 2019
“About Face”, ArtsWorcester, Worcester, MA, June-July 2019
“Abstractions”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, June 2019
“Assemblages”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, April 2019
“All Things Red”, Gallery Z,
Lowell, MA, February 2019
“Fantasy Worlds & Mystical Beasts”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, January 2019
“2018 Annual Member’s Exhibition”, The Brush Gallery, Lowell, MA, Lowell, Dec
2018
“100 and Below”, Arts League of Lowell, MA, December 2018
“The Twelve Days of Christmas”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, December 2018
“A Matter of Perspective”, Arts
Worcester, Worcester, MA, October 2018
"Variationsin Size”, Arts League of Lowell, MA, August 2018
“Artist Co-op Exhibition”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA,
July 2018
“New England Group Show”, Arts League of Lowell, MA,
July 2018
“From All Sides”, Arts League of Lowell, MA, May-June 2018
“Take Back the Night”, Arts League of Lowell, Lowell, MA, April 2018
“Looking for America”, Gallery Z, Lowell, MA, March
2018
“Four for Education”, The Brush Gallery, Lowell, MA, March 2018
“Honoring Gaia”, Arts League of Lowell, Lowell, MA, March 2018
“NE Collective III”, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA, August 2012
The LAP Gallery “Zines Show”, Waltham, MA, May 2012
Holiday Group Show, Lynn Arts Center, Lynn, MA, December 2011
Small Works Group Show, Galatea Fine Art, Boston, MA, December 2011
Artmarket Gallery & Exhibitions – Juried Show – Boston, MA, June 2009
Experimental Art Gallery – Juried Show – Salem, MA, June 2009
Trees Atlanta - Trees in Art Exhibit - Atlanta, GA, May 2009
Group Show - Gale Library Annual Art Exhibition - Newton, NH, April 2009
Other Exhibitions 2008-2009
Water: A National Juried Photography Exhibition - Photoplace Gallery, Middlebury, VT
July-August 2009
Downtown Crossing Juried Art Competition - ArtMarket Gallery, Boston, MA, June 2009
Small Works '09 Juried Exhibition - Experimental Art Gallery, Salem, MA, June 2009
Trees Atlanta - Trees in Art Exhibit - Atlanta, GA, May 2009
Group Show - Gale Library Annual Art Exhibition - Newton, NH, April 2009
Projekt30.com on-line juried exhibition, March 2009
4' x 6' oil painting "Surface Tension" installed in retail space window fronting Washington Street, Boston, a major retail thoroughfare of the city. July 2009
5'x 4' oil painting "Ferris Wheel" installed in entryway foyer of ArtMarket Gallery, Boston, MA. July 2009