HOLA!
"I make collages. My work stems from a deep creative and spiritual inquiry, which plays out through my conversation with my hands and paper.
I created the term “The Art Engineer” for my thesis project in art school, which granted me creative license to unapologetically explore my role as an artist from a place of agency and leadership that extends from the studio outward.
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My small works on paper are amplified by my robust studio practice that takes on a multi-disciplinary approach. I combine the themes at the center of my visual work with other projects that include a podcast, and a live studio session series on social media.
My COllage
Story
As a child my grandmother worked at a posh convalescent home in Mar Vista California. She would come home with discarded fashion magazines from around the world. She clipped images of glamourous women, beautiful men and exotic places and tape them to the wall in our studio apartment. It was her template for a life she wanted to experience.
I soon followed suit, but when I looked for images that resembled my grandmother and I and did not find any, I resolved to tearing my own images and began to collage compositions that reflected our colors and textures. This creative practice gave me a vehicle to create a positive self image and place myself in the center of a world of my making.
MY MANIFESTO
Collage is the most democratic art practice! You do not need a degree, or even talent- all that is required of you is curiosity and openness to the adventure. Cut, tear, and juxtapose images that move you. By appropriating and repurposing them together you give voice to narratives in your life that might have no other way of playing out. Collage is a low risk and high reward activity. You have everything to gain when you show up and make something out of nothing. So relax and let the process become a meditation by letting go of the outcome.
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WANT TO TRY?
Give yourself power. Take an image that represents something that scares you or be bold and take a picture of a person in history that represents fear and oppression- now tear it in half, in to a hundred pieces. How did that feel?
Now glue it back together with elements that make you laugh, perhaps a circus scene, or feathers. You are in control, you are the Artist!
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Born in Los Angeles, and based in New York city, Luis Martin began his journey in the art museums of LA where he worked as a teen. Moving to NYC at the age of 19, he continued to work at cultural institutions before attending art school.
His artistic career flourished through self-initiated projects that aimed to create visibility and access to his art practice and that of other artists. He has exhibited nationally and internally around the world. Most recently in Merida, Mexico where he had a solo show of collages created during his stay.
My
PROMISE
I will create a safe space to trigger your creativity and prompt you to use your idiosyncrasies to develop your own authentic visual language. Through demonstrations, prompts, collage kits and dialog I invite you to find your voice and give shape to your personal narratives as an artist.
I can not take you anywhere I have not been- so I go full steam ahead as an artist and hold the door for you and others who want to join this adventure.
Join me, join us, there is much adventure to be hand in this collage dream!
