The Art

“To see we must forget the names of the things we’re looking at”. Claude Monet.

Martin totally agrees with Monet’s quote and follows it avidly.

Today he says he’s rejected a lot of the values of his time as a commercial photographer, other than perhaps the importance of composition.

He shoots now only on his iPhone, saying he enjoys the freedom it brings. ‘I want my work to be spontaneous and free from all the technicalities and rigidity of traditional photography’, that he feels, sometimes gets in the way of being creative. ‘I don’t want it to become an overly technical exercise, rather than a creative one.’

Some of the comments often aimed at his work are, that his images are very simple and anybody could do them.

But as Martin says, in his experience ‘anybody’ don’t do them because they don’t see them in the first place. It’s almost as if being simple somehow devalues the work but as Leonardo da Vinci once said: ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’ and I don’t think he was wrong.

ArtCity. Images from his environment that wouldn’t look out of place in an Art Gallery.

Street. Images that catch his eye in the environment he walks.

Others. He often uses shadows to represent the impact that others (people) or institutions (Roman Catholic Church) had on his childhood experiences.

Ego. He uses ‘Cars’ as an expression of status. Once a predominately male domain but increasingly now entering the Women’s domain.

Melancholy and Impermanence. He often uses Leaves and Texture to represent, Alienation, Disconnection, Emptiness and Trauma, all things he often feels in relation to his own life. He feels the many nuances of decay and dying in leaves and texture offers better opportunity to express the damage that trauma and abuse can have.

Transience. If God does exist, would they appear to us as clouds? Majestic, Mysterious and Magnificent all befitting of a Deity.

Martin’s images are for sale on Artmajeur and Saatchi Art or you can equire direct through my contact page.