Deutscher and Hackett

'There are so many stressful things happening in the world and our lives day to day are stressful and move so quickly ... I like the idea of pulling something into focus that can allow you to take a breath and transport you somewhere else for a minute.'¹

'The paintings evoke a submerged world which is tranquil and silent. A weightless and muffled place which is transforms the swimmers. Martine Emdur said. ''When you observe anything from under the water the light and movement of shadows are both beautiful and mysterious.'' Emdur said she applied layers of translucent paint to build up the illusion of light filtering though a dark background, deepening shadows and accentuating shafts of light. Her palette evokes the water temperature. The large canvases with their life-sized swimmers heighten the sensation of being immersed alongside her nude nymphs.'²

Scale and temperature are two of the most important aspects of her work.

'The scale is key to me, I want people to stand in front of my paintings and get the feeling of being immersed. And I think about the temperature of the water even more than the light. The temperature is everything in my paintings. I love a warm-blooded body in a cool body of water. I love the light and warmth from the sun streaming through the top of the picture where the body has pierced the surface and then all the shadows give the sensation of the cold, more mysterious water below.'³

1. The artist, quoted in Spring, A., 'Frozen Moment', Vogue Australia, May 2012
2. Taylor, A., 'As Large as Life and as Profound as the Deep Blue Sea', Sydney Morning Herald, 13 June 2010
3. The artist quoted in Blake, E., 'Out of the Blue', Sydney Morning Herald, 21 February 2009