Review of Edgar Martins exhibit from NYC trip

The woman stands alone on the beach, her head obscured by a cluster of balloons. She peers into the ocean, now a deep black infinity masked by night’s darkness. Ten steps further and she may fall off the edge into obscurity, but she remains motionless, trapped somewhere between fantasy and reality by photographer Edgar Martins.
The photograph, untitled, is part of the series “The Accidental Theorist,” currently on display at the Betty Cuningham Gallery in Chelsea through Jan. 13. The exhibition, also including prints from his series “Dystopia,” is Martins first in the U.S. — and what a grand entrance he makes.
The gallery’s first room contains five framed prints from Martins’ series “Dystopia:” Photographs taken immediately following the forest fires that engulfed Portugal in 2005. Martins, born in Portugal, used long-exposures so that the smoke from the fire’s aftermath fills the frame. At first glance, it appears to be fog, but upon closer inspection a subtle, unnatural pattern emerges— the smoke is opaque in areas, and transparent in others. Martins is playing with viewers’ assumptions; the disruption of the natural landscape by the unnatural appearance of the smoke creates tension and heightens the emotion.
The gallery’s second room contains the series “The Accidental Theorist.” Fourteen prints, mounted on aluminum and affixed to 3-inch thick wood substrate, jut out from the stark white walls. The beach photographs are 60-second exposures using only ambient light. The subjects vary: Beach umbrellas, a volleyball net, cabanas and in some, just the sand. Moonlight renders the landscapes delicate and artifical and the viewer wanders into a surreal world. Where the black horizon and the stark landscape meet, it is as if space and time are about to collapse into one.
The 30-something artist is a rarity amongst his contemporaries, most of whom are entrenched in the digital age. Employing a large format camera and no digital manipulation, Martins achieves remarkably surreal images that force the viewer to question how they are accomplished with traditional means. If you go see this exhibit (and you should), the eerily beautiful images will likely haunt your memory for days.