Play and Scientific Exploration: Art by B.A. Martel
The cycle of Life and Death, acrylic on canvas
B.A. Martel is an artist located in Vancouver, British Columbia. Using a range of traditional media, the artist creates works that evoke a sense of play and scientific exploration, drawing from nature, domesticity, and human constructions.
Rhapsody in Yellow Number One, acrylic on canvas
Martel’s painted works are often created in a very loose, almost naïve style. The artist seems focused on capturing the color and exuberance of the act of painting, more than rendering any particular subject in purely accurate detail. Martel’s painting portfolio occasionally makes reference to artistic figures, such as surrealist artist Rene Magritte.
The painting gallery on Martel's website
I like how densely packed Martel’s canvases are – the artist doesn’t use very much negative space, or monochromatic backgrounds, instead often filling the entire canvas plane with plants and other landscape elements, painted in the same level of detail and relief as the foreground. Martel’s drawing works offer a little more in the way of negative space, and the artist’s spare series of animal drawings is rather charming in this way.
