Shantell Martin
About:
“When invited to speak about my work, I like to start with showing a photograph of my younger self with my brother and sisters. In the photograph I’m about nine years old with a little afro, brown skin, and Michael Jackson shorts standing next to my very blond and blue-eyed brother and four sisters. This is the beginning of my story.”
Continuous Line, 2012.
The work of Shantell Martin is a meditation of lines; a language of characters, creatures and messages that invite 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 the everyday experience — conversations, objects and places.
Untitled.
Using her simple trademark – black ink and white surfaces, Martin’s illustrations transform everything from walls, found objects, ceramics, luxury goods, sneakers, and even faces into a visual narrative. Martin’s diverse portfolio illustrates her gift of navigating many worlds. Her commissions at Asia’s ultra-high end department store Lane Crawford and Y&R’s global headquarters were met with the same amount of fanfare as her first solo museum show in the spring of 2014.
Experimenting with color.
Hailing from a rough and tumble upbringing, Martin made her way to Central Saint Martin where she graduated with honors. Upon graduation, Martin was unsure of what to make of the art world, opting for an unconventional path of living and working in Japan as a performance artist. Martin’s move to New York in 2008/9 marked the beginning of a rapid ascent into the art world. Her brand collaborations with prominent commercial brands, as well as with bespoke luxury partners like 3×1 denim, Suno, and Jaw Bone quickly drew a fine art and commercial audience.
Martin has been featured on the Jimmy Kimmel Show, and her hand-illustrated bedroom walls graced the cover of the New York Times home section in May 2012. Her work has appeared in Creative Review Magazine, and she is still honored to have been named French Glamour’s New York’s “coolest it girl” in 2011. Her latest fashion and lifestyle collaboration with Kelly Wearstler was featured on Vogue, T Magazine and 1st dibs. Martin’s recent art commissions included an interior installation at the Viacom head quarters in Times Square, New York and a custom installation for the Brown Institute for media innovation located in the Pulitzer Hall, Columbia University. She regularly creates live digital drawings at conferences, musical performances, and museums including the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Moving Image and MoMA.
Martin recently is a visiting scholar at MIT Media Lab and is also an adjunct professor at ITP, NYU. She deeply enjoys her volunteer work with schools and organizations like Apple Arts and Manhattan Apparel Project where she teaches kids to draw using their imaginations. She moved her studio to Tribeca in the spring of 2013. (text wedsite artist)