BENGALURU: As you enter Sublime Galleria, a painting of a human face welcomes you, but the rest of the paintings at the ‘Animal Factory’ exhibition are of animals.
Martial Robin, a portraitist from France as he describes himself, is in love with animals and the innocence their eyes express.
Look into the eyes of the animal in his painting and you can see if they are sad, thinking about something, joyful, naughty or rebellious.
Ask Belinda Fernandez, the gallery manager, why the artist has one painting of a human being amongst several animal ones, and she says, “The artist wants to show how expressions of animals and human beings are similar. Eyes are the main focus of his art.”
His abstract art is not limited to regular paper or canvas. He dabbles in mixed media, including wooden plank, newspaper, jute cloth and a carton piece, etc. One of the paintings on display is on a 100-year-old piece of paper. The paintings are made so perfectly that one won’t be able to tell what it has been done on. He uses chalk, pencil, pastel and acrylic, and his palette represents the subtle colours of nature. It’s not just faces; the painting of a cow seems to convey that the animals are happy walking.
Quoting Martial, Belinda Fernandez says, “We see animals as animals, we don’t see how they are.”
He also customises art for people. It is his first exhibition in India. Apart from painting, Martial also makes sculptures of varied sizes.
So where did the love for animals come from? Belinda tells us that the artist stays on a farm and is always surrounded by animals.
“He rears horses and Afghan hounds. Other animals like geese, ducks, pigs and cows can also be seen in his farm,” she explains.
Martial took up painting at the age of 12. His paintings have been appreciated worldwide. He has customers from across 70 countries.