11/5/2016 Interview with Artist Shantell MartinShantell Martin was born in East London. She has been drawing since she was a little girl growing up in the Thamesmead estate public housing complex in London. Since she wasn’t allowed to draw on the walls, she would take a pen and draw characters underneath her bed and inside the curtains in her bedroom. It was then that she first developed the stick figures that show up in her work today. “There are two types of stick men, those who push and pull and hold the work together,” says Martin. “And then there are the stick men who play around and are lazy. It’s a reminder that you have to work and you have to have fun.” As the only mixed-race child in a family full of blonde, blue-eyed siblings, she always felt different. Perhaps that’s why, from an early age, Martin has been asking herself the same question: Who are you? The existential angst followed her to Central Saint Martins, where she studied graphic design. It was a time when she describes herself as an angry and confused college student. “Growing up in a white working-class environment and not feeling in control of your future or environment or potential can be frustrating,” she notes. To express herself, the artist developed a character named Hangman. “It is a kind of robot-shaped character and I would tag it all around London,” she explains. “Hangman was a businessman in his former life and he decided to cut the noose—home environment, the class system, the prejudice, and people’s low expectations.” After her graduation, she lived in Japan where she first experimented with live performance art. From 2006 to 2009, Martin developed her drawing skills through “Liveography”—the process of projecting live drawings to sound, music or other experience. She performed at music concerts, design festivals and in public spaces internationally. AHC: Can you talk a bit about your process, themes & inspirations? Shantell: I've learned to approach my work in a very spontaneous and intuitive way, this has developed over the years from creating work with an audience. When you draw live it puts you in a really vulnerable place, it also takes away the potential for having the time to over think, hesitate or try to be anyone other than yourself. Theme wise I believe I've always been asking myself about my identity and where I fit in.... this search has lead me to a place where everything around me is now made up of my recognizable style. AHC: What first drew you to art? Was there a specific moment in your life or turning point where it became clear to you that you were being called to create? Shantell: When I was a kid I drew and wrote a bunch, at the time I didn’t know it was art... it was a tool I used to make myself feel better. I felt quite lost and it was a way to start to explore those feelings – even if I didn’t know that was what I was doing at the time. AHC: Is there anyone outside of the art world who has had a huge impact on your work, writers, filmmakers, philosophers, musicians etc? Shantell: Outside of the art world ...... I'm a fan of talents like: Casey Neistat, Kristjana Williams, The Wachowski siblings, Kelly Wearstler, Jennifer Fisher, Seinabo Sey, Sepandar Kamvar. AHC: Your work, in part, is an invitation to collaborate, allowing viewers to share a role in the process, what is your approach and philosophy/inspiration behind this type of open Invitational form? Shantell: For some of the same reason as above – it helps keep me honest and my work as me as much as possible. The most important moment for me when it comes to art is the moment of creation, before that there is a black canvas and after that the resulting image is something that people engage with in their own way – the real magic happens in that special moment of creation; when the pen touches the surface and follows a path that neither I nor the viewer are aware off. I love that I can share this space with the audience. AHC: What were those days of live performance, drawing in the mega clubs of Tokyo like, what did your work & approach consist of in those days? Shantell: My life was much different back then. I loved dancing and that’s how I first found myself in these huge clubs. I was very much taken by the visuals and the VJ's that would create them in-time to the DJ's and musicians. Basically I ended up three to four nights a week VJ'ing to a DJ or creating more hands on analog live visuals to an avant garde or underground noise band. Nights were late, I loved how present it all was, meeting people on the dance-floor after my set was done and dancing till the morning. My approach was to have fun, collaborate and to be as free and spontaneous visually as I possibly could. AHC: Your drawings have found their way onto many objects and acros a wide spectrum of formats, institutions and architecture, do you have a favorite or preferred project/medium of these many diverse platforms? Shantell: Seeing my lines on a huge variety of surfaces makes me smile inside. I love drawing on people and seeing them walk away from me, on cars and seeing them drive away, drawing digitally with the ability for it to become many other things. All of it is enjoyable for me, I'm learning about myself and sharing what I do with the world. It’s a goal of mine to see my lines become the outlines for architecture and furniture. I've also started to make music, which is basically drawing with sounds and voice all created spontaneously. AHC: What is the first work of art you encountered that took your breath away? Shantell: On one of my first school trips we went to The National Gallery and I was completely obsessed with the painting Tropical Storm with a Tiger, I didn’t want to leave it AHC: Do you have any upcoming exhibits or new projects you'd like to tell people about? Shantell: Making music is a nice new challenge for me, looking forward to seeing where that goes. I'm also working on writing a paper about the creative process with Sarah Schwettmann who is a PHD candidate at MIT's Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Comments are closed.
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