

Lucky Buckle
2025
A weathered buckle becomes an intimate canvas in Robert Martin's "Lucky Buckle" (2025), a meticulously rendered oil painting applied directly to salvaged hardware. Working at a diminutive 10 × 14 × 3 cm, Martin exploits the object's existing contours and history, allowing the found surface to participate actively in the composition rather than serve as a neutral ground. The tension between the buckle's industrial origins and the delicate application of oil paint creates a dialogue that is simultaneously gritty and refined, with the object's worn patina lending an authenticity no prepared support could replicate. Martin's practice of painting on salvaged objects situates "Lucky Buckle" within a broader conversation about material memory and the reassignment of value. The choice of a buckle, an object associated with fastening, security, and passage, carries quiet conceptual weight, suggesting ideas of luck as something carried on the body rather than abstractly possessed. Signed by the artist, this is a complete and considered work, not a study or experiment, but a fully resolved statement in miniature. For collectors drawn to works that reward close looking, "Lucky Buckle" offers exceptional intimacy. Its small scale demands a certain proximity, creating a private viewing experience rarely achieved in larger formats. Currently offered through EDJI Gallery, this piece represents an accessible entry point into Martin's distinctive body of work without sacrificing the conceptual and technical ambition that defines his practice.
- Medium
- Oil on salvaged buckle
- Overall
- Signed
- Yes
- Spotted At
- Gallery · EDJI Gallery
For Sale — $1100
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