In two and three dimensions, Martin Basher conjures an uncertain Shangri-La of supra natural substance. Buried within dense primal forests, weekend homes pop up as randomly and inexplicably as the cartoonishly bright flora and fauna with which they are landscaped. The promise of a 21st Century Utopia is undermined by a pervasive sense of unease. Dream homes sit vacant, either unfinished or abandoned, while nature encroaches or, more likely, prevails indifferent to human constructs.
Basher’s landscapes draw from a wide range of sources from art history to popular culture including Hudson River School painting, complimentary promotional calendars, New Age screen savers, and airbrushed real estate offerings. Employing a variety of media and technique, Basher blends these sources in a poetic fusion of the historical landscape and contemporary culture.
Born in 1979 in Wellington, New Zealand, Basher currently divides his time between New Zealand and New York The artist has had a number of exhibitions in his native New Zealand. This show represents Basher’s first solo exhibition in New York.