North Carolina Works by Martin Pasco
The Asheville Gallery of Art
Nov. 1, 2022, 11:00 am
Visitors to the Asheville Gallery of Art will be able to view Martin Pasco’s show from November 1st through November 30th. There will be a special “meet the artist” opening on Friday, November 4th from 5 to 8pm.
Martin Pasco was born and raised in northeast Pennsylvania, in mountains that are very similar to those in western North Carolina, but he finds the Blue Ridge Mountains much more interesting to him. He received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in painting from Penn State University, worked as a Freelance illustrator in Washington DC from 1984 – 2019, and became retired, or semi-retired in 2019, after moving to Barnardsville.
Martin lived and painted in a few different places since he left Pennsylvania. First came northern Florida, then the bay area in California, both northern and southern New Jersey, and Washington D.C. Most of those pictures were fairly urban or suburban and he has left chronicles of all of these places. He has also managed to keep at least one picture from each of these locations. Now it’s time for North Carolina, and most everything that comes out these days is placid and rural.
Martin is constantly bombarded by views of spaces that seem to have some importance. Those are the ones that end up in his pictures. “I like to think that this significance comes through in my work. One of my main reasons for retiring to North Carolina was the wealth of subject matter that the area provides. In fact, over two-thirds of my paintings are from areas within a mile or two of my home in Barnardsville, and there seems to be no indication of my running low on subject matter.”
Two big influences in his early career were paintings that were in the collection of the Palmer Art Museum at Penn State University. One was “August Landscape” by Sidney Goodman, and the other was by Elmer Bischoff entitled “Buildings, Trees, Path”. Stylistically they were miles apart; the Goodman being very formal and staid; the Bischoff very fluid and full of movement. Most of his painting career seems to have been trying to merge those two styles.
Martin’s website is www.martinpasco.com.