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About The Artist

Artist Photo

Martin Osner was born in Johannesburg, South Africa (1963).

He has a natural artistic curiosity for the world he inhabits, a fact that logically steered him towards photography at an early age.

Martin Osner opened his first photographic studio in Johannesburg in 1981 – establishing a solid reputation as a commercial photographer. Later he moved to Pretoria with his wife, Anita, and their three children, where in 1993 he co-founded the National College of Photography.

Over the past decade the college has grown into one of Southern Africa’s premier training institutions for photography, where he continues to lecture.

Osner eschews pure registration photography, favouring a more expressive vision that accords with both his visual understanding and spiritual appreciation of the world.

A multi-award winning artist, his photography generally is characterised by an urge to explore with the willingness to experiment. He considers anything a subject stating that “things just look more interesting when photographed”.

Rather than clutter his images with detail, he prefers to concentrate on elemental forms, patterns and shapes.

Abstraction, paired with a necessary sense of restraint, bears out Osner’s belief that simplicity is the cornerstone of successful imaging.

EXHIBITIONS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS

2009

  • Thompson Gallery - July 2009
  • Gordart Gallery - July 2009
  • Creative Boost Gallery - May 2009

    2008

  • Gallery Gora, Montreal, Canada - December 2008
  • Stephanie Hoppen Gallery, London, England - September 2008
  • CTAS, Cape Town - September 2008
  • Kyk Art Space, Pretoria - June 2008
  • Art on Karoo, Pretoria - June 2008
  • Gordart Gallery Melville Johannesburg South Africa - May 2008

    2007

  • Centurion GE Estate - January
  • Everard Reid Gallery Victoria & Alfred Waterfront Cape Town - September

    2006

  • Voir Gallery Brooklyn Pretoria South Africa - September
  • Imaging Hub Waterkloof Pretoria South Africa - October
  • Linden auditorium university of the witwatesrand - November
  • CSIR Convention Centre - November
  • Pecanwood Estate - December

    1993

  • Co-founded the National College of Photography.
    Over the past decade the college has grown into one of Southern Africa’s premier training institutions for photography, where he continues to lecture.

    1981

  • Opened his first photographic studio in Johannesburg


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