John Scott Martin

Below Grass

Cramped, claustrophobic spaces contrasting with deep black voids are highlighted with flashes of the brightest light to give John's paintings a sense of drama. He uses collages of papers to depict massive bulks of rough hewn timber juxtaposed with hard rock.

Miners are depicted making the steep ascent up wooden ladeders towards the daylight after many hours toiling in th ehot, dank atmosphere of the deep levels, or caged for speedier escape.

The miners are weary and wet, lit only by the harsh glare from the lights on their helmets; hemmed in by narrow shafts, the blackness of deep chasms surrounds them.

  • Image 1

    Testing the Bore
    Mixed Media
    44 x 44 cms

  • Image 2

    In the Level
    Mixed Media
    63 x 49 cms

  • Image 3

    Ladderway II
    Mixed Media
    56 x 36 cms

  • Image 5

    At Croust
    Mixed Media
    66 x 66 cms

  • Image 8

    Thumbing a lift
    Mixed Media
    56 x 45 cms

  • Image 9

    Skip Shaft
    Mixed Media
    66 x 50 cms

  • Image 11

    Ladderway V
    Mixed Media
    76 x 56 cms

  • Image 12

    Pastie and a Wet
    Oil on board
    50 x 132 cms

  • Image 14

    Tramway VIII
    Mixed Media
    Mount size: 50 x 50 cms

  • Image 15

    In the Stope
    Gouache
    Mount size: 50 x 35 cms

  • Image 11

    Tramway IX
    Mixed Media
    Mount size: 18 x 69 cms

  • Image 11

    At Croust II
    Gouache
    42 x 34 cms