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The Compound Gallery & Studios

June 15 - July 22, 2013

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1167 65th Street Oakland, CA 94608
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Made for You and Me This Land is Your Land
Martin Webb’s recent work returns to landscapes and to people making their places within it. It is about permanence versus impermanence, and about home and belonging. Webb started making these paintings by writing out the lyrics to Woody Guthrie’s song “This Land Is Your Land” across all of the panels. Fragments of these can still be seen in places, though they serve more as a statement of intent than as a visual element. Having the lyrics present provided a sort of directional compass during the process of creating the paintings. As a result, the tone of the song is articulated into the painting. Webb gives renewed importance to the abstract dimensions of the work, as the images float above accumulated layers of marks and color. The wooden posts that make up the installation piece were previously supports for freeway guardrails. The lifecycle of this old wood, from tree to freeway to abstract-forest, speaks simply about nature, human progress, and transformation.