JAMES MARTIN ART RUSTLER AT THE RIVOLI

Boards (HB) in near fine condition. dust jacket in near fine condition. . Lengthy introductory monograph on James Martin's life and surrealist art, followed by full color plates. Sheila Farr writes of the artist, "During the 1950s and 60s, he nabbed imagery and mannerisms from Mark Tobey, Morris Graves, van Gogh, Picasso, Chagall, and Calder. But the real source of Martin's mature style isn't buried in the mysticism of the Northwest School or the avant garde trends of European Modernism: it traces back to his days at Ballard High School during the 1940s. He and a buddy used to cut class and head downtown to the Rivoli Theater on Seattle's First Avenue to watch the burlesque. The surrealism of those shows percolated into Martin's psyche and his paintings--once he started to trust his own view of things--began to sprout the ambiguities of burlesque and the black humor of slapstick." The carnival world of James Martin captures the drama, comedy, sexiness, and revulsions of a vanished era. 120 pages with chronlogy, bibliography and list of illustrations. …