Art and artist
UCLA alumnus Martin Lubner cannot be categorized. Often termed
the ‘painter’s painter’ by art critics, Lubner’s unique style stems
from an obsession with his material, not an ordered artistic
technique.
By EMILY FORSTER Daily Bruin Contributor
Martin Lubner is obsessed.
He looks like a normal person, with an eager smile and
sheepdog-like brown eyes shaded by bushy gray eyebrows.
But the painter, who also seems as amicable and honest as a
sheepdog, admits freely that he has an obsession with his work.
"I’ve had different levels of obsession through my lifetime,"
says Lubner, "but I think those of us who do become obsessed are
very lucky."
The painting bug bit Lubner as a young boy, and he decided to
pursue his artistic craving when he majored in painting at UCLA.
Forty-seven years later, Lubner sits in his white-walled studio
surrounded by a sea of his colorful canvases to discuss his new
exhibition, "Recent Works." The exhibition will run though Feb. 17
at the FIG Gallery in Santa Monica.
"There’s a certain continuity between this year’s work and last
year’s work," explains Lubner. "I think this continuity goes way
back. It comes out of the obsession. You’re preoccupied with some
work, you struggle with it and make it right. Finally, it comes to
rest and whatever the appearance of it, or the style, is the result
of that struggle."
Lubner realizes that his style, which he describes as his
"preoccupation with the material," is not easy to classify.
In fact, many art critics find describing Lubner’s style
difficult. He paints mostly common objects in works, such as "Black
Comb, Silver Spoon," "Cup and Toothbrush" and "Bagel and Cream
Cheese," but he is not a realist because he does not concern
himself with accuracy of shape or color. He works with differing
viscocities of paint and varying colors to lend tangibility and
physicality to his work. This has earned him the title
"materialist," of which he does not approve or disapprove.
Lubner understands the desire that critics have to label his
unique work.
"People need to lump things together," says Lubner. "It’s
Baroque, it’s Impressionist, it’s Expressionist or whatever. It’s
the convenience of taking the art of human beings and putting them
into some kind of order, even though they can be very
separate."
Many critics simply describe Lubner as the "painter’s painter"
because his work is well known for its reference to other great
paintings of the past. In his most recent collection, for example,
there is an allusion to Cézanne’s style in Lubner’s work, "Old
Bat."
Lubner explains his preoccupation with these references as
"saying hello to other painters."
"There is a language of painting that has been passed on," says
Lubner. "From century to century, painters have touched one
another."
Lubner did not always have this AT&T philosophy to "reach
out and touch a great painter." When he first began, he was
obsessed with telling a story. Today, however, he lets his
paintings do all the telling.
"Now, for me, the story has to come out of the dialogue with the
material," says Lubner. "You start painting and the paint tells you
something, like a response. If an image develops out of the
process, and there is a story, fine. But it isn’t something I set
out to do. If an image of any motive or character comes out of it,
it’s not because I planned it. It’s just because of the struggle
with the material."
Lubner originally wanted to simply struggle with material for a
living, but when he graduated, he feared being drafted for the
Korean War. He decided to get a teaching degree to avoid fighting
what he considered to be an "unjust war."
Teaching means much more to him now than simply a legal method
to avoid the draft. As an instructor in his own art program, which
he runs out of his studio in Marina del Rey, Lubner oversees
extremely diverse artists.
"The students that I have range in obsessions. Some are obsessed
with nonobjective form, some perceptual realism, some guestural
abstractions – all kinds of things. What’s interesting about
teaching them is the chess game. You try to figure out what that
person’s next move might be. You almost have to pick their brains
and sense their obsessions to find what might make their obsessions
better."
Although Lubner enjoys aiding his students, he feels that there
is a limit to how much of painting can be taught.
"I don’t think anybody can teach anybody to paint," says Lubner,
"but you can teach them how to make it better."
Although he can improve his students’ painting skills, Lubner
knows that he cannot find their obsession for them.
"All of us have something that we feel is important about
shapes, or colors or something," says Lubner. "That’s what I mean
by the ‘obsession’ – finding a shape or color that grabs us. How
dumb it is to take some colored marks and make some drawings or
shapes. What keeps you there? Why don’t I go out and rescue kittens
or feed the homeless? Because there’s just something about it that
interests you."
Lubner does not always find his obsession exciting, interesting
or satisfying. Instead, he sees it as simply becoming enraptured
with something to the point that it must be done.
"You feel that you’d rather do this, no matter how painful it is
or how inadequate you feel than anything else," says Lubner. "It is
never simply a pleasurable activity. It is a very painful activity
at certain times, but it is a pain/pleasure."
Lubner’s awareness of the pain that goes into creating a
painting gives him respect for art that he does not particularly
like. The painter would rather people appreciate his paintings for
the work that went into them than simply find them pleasing.
"There are artists who I respect, but I don’t have any emotional
attachment to their work," explains Lubner. "But if I had to chose
between the two, well, I think I don’t need love, but I’d like the
respect."
ART: "Martin Lubner: Recent Works" at the FIG Gallery in Santa
Monica through Feb. 17. For more info call (310) 829-0345.
Artist Martin Lubner’s "Self Portrait" is part of his exhibit at
the FIG Gallery in Santa Monica.
Martin Lubner paints common objects in works like "Big Apple,"
above.
Martin Lubner’s "Old Bat" alludes to Cézanne’s style.
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