Martin Assig

In the work of Martin Assig (1959) a combination of sensuality and spirituality is always felt. The centre of attention in this is the human body: as a classical fertility goddess with numerous breasts, but also as a fragile house of the soul.
A recurring motif is the skirt; it reaches up to the chest that is cut off at shoulder height with a horizontal bar. This forces the association with an altar: body and sacrificial table becoming one.
In his paintings Martin Assig always works with pigments and beeswax. He also uses wax in his charcoal drawings, applying it to the back of the paper to give the drawing a saturated, almost painting-like character. Since 2009 he works on the St. Paul series in which he reflects on his own artistry by using, like Paul Klee before him, a great variety of idioms and themes that he developed over the years. In the series he addresses basic and existential themes like love, death, and how we relate to eachother and the world.

Martin Assig
Marie, 2005
Enkaustik auf Holz
210 x 150 cm