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Energetic Inspiration
Artist Steve Martin Energizes the Human Form
Story by Aaron Glickman | Photos by Steve Martin
Studio
Inspiration is hard to explain. This
stimulation of the mind or emotions to a high level of feeling or
activity is what often motivates an artist. When inspiration is
combined with a strong technique, great art can evolve. Sometimes,
an artist is inspired when he is young, which leads him to pursue his
craft and develop technique. He sees a certain style, mimics it,
perhaps receives positive reinforcement, and then continues.
This inspired beginning is the scenario for Steve Martin, a local artist
who runs his studio and gallery from the Miami Design District. A
New Orleans native, Martin was initially inspired as a child by
Picasso's line drawings and from there a technique developed with its
roots in this preliminary muse.
"All artists learn from something they admire," Martin explained.
"Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci studied under masters.
Picasso drew his inspiration from African masks in the Congo, which led
to Cubism. Roy Lichtenstein was inspired by comic books.
Their learning from the beginning inspired their art in the future," he
explained.
Martin's first inspirations can be seen in a lot of his work. The
Picasso line drawings that he initially studied actually developed into
work from a different medium. As a child, Martin would accompany
his father on construction sites where he would manipulate stray pieces
of wire into figures that resembled Picasso's line drawings. This
simple start matured into complex wire sculptures of women in motion,
their arms and legs flowing poetically from rounded mid-sections.
The shadows that are cast from the wire figures are always changing,
creating energy; the human form acts as the conduit.
"I like the human form," said Martin. "It's something that I've
always been attracted to."
Take a quick look around his gallery and his statement is obvious.
In addition to the wire sculptures of women in motion, multi-colored
collages of faces and bodies pressed on paper are displayed. Stone
sculptures of the naked form are positioned toward the front door.
In fact, the human form is exhibited throughout the space, some created
by artists that he represents, but much of it created by Martin himself. |
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Ironically enough, where his sculpture
was inspired by work on paper, his work on paper was
inspired by sculpture. The first piece of art that
Martin purchased was on that he could hardly afford.
"I just had to have it," he recalled. "The gallery
owner was an understanding man who recognized my zeal and he
made arrangements for me to buy it. I would then draw
that sculpture over and over again."
Martin took his inspiration from this
piece and made it his own. Yet, be it a sculpture or
painting, the human form is represented. "The human
figure is the basis for most art, and it has been throughout
history," he explained. "Cave paintings, Egyptians,
Babylonians, the Greeks all created depictions of people or
animals. Modern art and abstraction took us away from
the human form, but I'm working back toward it.
Martin creates work that fits into the
figurative expressionism genre, which is characterized by an
emphasis on energy. Martin is passionate when he talks
about the body and the energy it creates, his artistic truth
seemingly found in that energy. His use of colors and
movement accentuate energy and his painting technique,
meaning the manner of his production, is, in fact, based on
movement and energy. The passivity of brush to paper
apparently needed expansion for Martin, which guided him
toward the craft of oil monotypes. "It's the purest
form of printmaking," he explained. This technique
requires an image to be painted on metal or plexiglass using
water-or oil-based paint. The image is then pressed
onto paper, which takes the final result out of the
creator's control. When the press compounds the paint
and transfers it to paper, a feeling of movement and energy
is created.
Movement and energy as seen in the human
form are certainly recurring themes in Martin's work.
And inside Martin the person, energy exists that manifests
itself in movement. As demonstrated earlier, his
sculptures, both the technique and result, display movement
and energy as well. Hence, a deeper understanding of
the artist may denote an inspiration drawn not form the
human form as it may appear, but actually drawn from
internal energy and movement. The human form is merely
a preferred way in which to present the internal muse.
From childhood to maturity, the evolution of an art6ist
finds itself in energy.
Steve Martin Studio, 66 NE 40th St., 305.576.9221,
www.stevemartinfineart.com
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