Timeline

American-born Martin Canin is best known for his paintings, defined by precise large geometric shapes and luminous colors. He writes, “...in the more than forty years that I have been painting, Manet’s statement (to be concise in art is both necessary and elegant) still resonates for me. Luminosity is still the goal.” Canin’s work can be linked to two 1960s movements: Minimalism and Op art. In his work, compositions made of large color field planes alternate with those for which Canin creates an optical illusion of movement by creating random segmented patterns of color. Canin lived abroad for several years, including in France, Spain, and Japan, where he had his first solo show in Tokyo. Returning to the United States in the late 1960s, he was associated with the historic Graham Gallery in New York City, owned by collector and dealer Robert Claverhouse Graham. In the 70s, Canin started experimenting with paintings whose physical stretcher for the canvas had a shape other than that of a rectangle or square. To this period belongs the T-shaped series, inspired by traditional Japanese kimono garments.