Artist Statement
Buy Issue for $25 at JHUP- Artist Statement
Basically I put the pen down and then just go with it. The pen knows where it’s going, and I’ve gotten very good at following it. So usually it starts with a very fast movement. And then I’ll step back and fill in the gaps. There’s a soft line and then I’ll do a nose … You need the eyes and the mouth. So it’s like a language unfolding. Stick men are great because we can put them to work. They’re always pushing and pulling things.
I draw on everything—cars, shoes, people, walls, clothes, planes, whatever I can get my hands on. When you use color, in a way, you are directing people where to look, because the stronger colors will draw your attention. When you have something that’s black and white and people look at it, they’re all going to be drawn to a different place. When there are other people involved, I love to use color. But when it’s me, when there’s that interaction between me and the paper, there is something very special about keeping it black and white. It’s very common, and you can’t hide.
The assumption is that I think about what I’m doing, and I don’t. But then at the same time it’s not that I’m coming to it with no idea. I come to a drawing with intention. Good intention to make something work. (So) I’m doing what I’m meant to do … and how I’m meant to be connecting with the world. I get asked how do I plan my composition, and I’m like: I don’t plan, it just works. And I don’t know how it works or why it works but I trust the pen, and I trust this experience. And every time I step back … I secretly say to myself: it worked! [End Page 969]
Click for larger view
View full resolution
Shantell Martin, Untitled (2013) Ink on wall (8’ x 69’) Young & Rubicam, New York
Click for larger view
View full resolution
Shantell Martin, Scrunched (2013) Ink on scrunched paper (27” x 30”)
[End Page 970]
Click for larger view
View full resolution
Shantell Martin, Untitled (2013) Ink on glass (8’ x 70’) Brothers & Sisters, London
Click for larger view
View full resolution
Shantell Martin, If life doesn’t give you a door, climb out of a window (2013) Ink on wood Saraghina, Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn
[End Page 971]
Click for larger view
View full resolution
Shantell Martin, ARE YOU YOU (2014) Ink on wall, ink on paper, LED light piece, oil and lacquer on wooden benches MoCADA Museum, Brooklyn
[End Page 972]
SHANTELL MARTIN (b. 1980) studied at Camberwell College of Arts, London, UK (1999-2000), and received the BA (2003) from London’s Central Saint Martins. Her work has been exhibited in solo and group shows at such venues as MoCADA Museum, New York; BATA Shoe Museum Installation, Toronto; and New Town Plaza, Fashion Installation, Sha Tin, Hong Kong. She has also given a number of talks and performances at institutions and art venues, including the Eady Form, Royal College of Art, London; DRAW Symposium, Carnegie Mellon University, PA; Spring Festival, Graz, Austria; OSB, Natural History Museum, NY; Mapping Festival, Geneva, Switzerland; Yota Space Festival, St. Petersburg, Russia; and Brooklyn Museum, NY. Her work has been described as “a meditation of lines; a language of characters, creatures and messages that invited her viewers to share a role in her creative process. Part autobiographical, and part dreamlike whimsy, Martin has created her own world that bridges fine art, commercial and everyday experience—conversations, objects and places.” She lives and works in New York.
