Artist and Curator Talk: May 26 | 6-7 pm Opening Reception: May 26 | 7-9 pm

The Abrons Arts Center is proud to present the exhibition All Good in the Manhood, the U.S. premiere of Irish/Spanish, Belfast-based artist Miguel Martin, in the Charles E. Culpeper Gallery. Martin addresses the chaotic overtones of violence in contemporary society inspired by surrealist worldviews, street culture, and Gothic imagery. He explores his distinctive, vivid imagination in regard to specific subject matter — ranging from politics to the collective unconscious — to playfully tell stories in black and white sketchbook or wall-sized drawings, as in the case of this commissioned piece. Resorting to a grotesque humor, his projects smartly fictionalize horror in a dramatic, symbolic yet delicate and even poetic style, making him an intelligent if also sarcastic commentator on everyday life.

All Good in the Manhood represents Martin’s personal attitude towards the nostalgia of a city in general and of Belfast in particular. In the tradition of modern dioramas, which consist of replicas of natural landscapes or urban settings typically showing historical events, this series evolves as a semi-autobiographical narrative. Each image evokes a specific childhood or teenage memory, thus alluding to situations involving both individuals and objects connected to Martin’s places of residence in Belfast — Poleglass, Legamaddy, Divis Drive, Queen Street, and Ormeau Road — including a graveyard, his grandmother’s country house, British soldiers, and police vans. Using free association techniques and panoramic, multi-perspective renderings of actions, he portrays media personas and domestic scenes such as iconic movie characters and cherished toys in an uncanny, dream-like combination of public and private spheres.

A conversation between Miguel Martin and curator Miguel Amado concerning the Belfast art scene and Martin’s practice will take place at the Abrons on Thursday, May 26, from 6-7 p.m.

The exhibition is curated by Miguel Amado, the 2010-11 AIRspace curator-in-residence.