Moyosore Martins "Seen"

MÓYÒSÓRÉ MARTINS: SEEN

Gallery Exhibition August 31—October 1, 2022 Virtual Exhibition August 31, 2022—January 2023

Long-Sharp Gallery 1 North Illinois, Suite A Indianapolis, IN 46204 Hours | Friday: 12:00 pm-6:00 pm and by appointment.

To inquire about works available or make an appointment outside gallery hours: Telephone: +1 866 370 1601 Email: info@longsharpgallery.com www.longsharpgallery.com

Photo: Daniella Liguori © 2022

MÓYÒSÓRÉ MARTINS: SEEN

Móyòsóré Martins, 2022 Bronx, NY

Móyòsóré Martins exhalts the tradition of the Abstract Expressionist painters—the beginning. Figurative and conceptualist elements then take the stage. Hatching, hard-handed distress brings the work together in harmony and depth—Móyòsóré’s own total.

— Asher Edelman

Móyòsóró Martins and Asher Edelman Harlem, NY 2020

Móyòsóró Martins Móyòsóró Martins’ Studio, Bronx, NY Bronx Studio 2022

2022

MÓYÒSÓRÉ MARTINS (NIGERIAN, B. 1986)

Móyòsóré Martins is a mixed-media artist. Raised in Lagos, Nigeria by a Brazilian father and a Nigerian mother from Ekiti state, Martins adopted a paintbrush and pencil at a young age as instruments to express his innately curious and spiritual nature. Through his work, Martins blends his traditional Yoruba cultural roots with his contemporary vision of art.

Martins’s artwork combines figurative, abstract, and narrative elements drawn from his unique life experience and journey from Nigeria to his large Bronx studio. His work is deeply symbolic and frequently features cultural and personal iconography. Martins’s richly textured paintings feature bold brushstrokes, thick oil paint, drawings, scribbles, collaged materials, and text. The vibrant, heavily layered canvases are interspersed with spiritual elements and wishes manifested and fulfilled. Martins also works in three-dimensional form with clay sculpture. As Martins describes: My artwork is intentionally raw. I like to use a lot of different materials and have rough-cut edges on the canvas. The paintings are textured with scratches, scribbles, and mud-like paint, as well as clay, liquid plastic, oil sticks, chunky layers of oil paint. I layer the background and then deconstruct them, which gives the feeling of wear and tear on the canvas.

No painting is alike as each has symbolic patterns and encrypted messages hidden within it. I want to merge the vision with the given and the new world that I live in now. The word “Why?” is seen in a lot of the work because it leaves you asking the same question.

Forbidden by his father to create or study art, Martins spent his college years in Ghana and the Ivory Coast studying computer science. He immigrated to New York City in 2015 to further pursue his artistic ambitions. Martins’s artwork has been exhibited most recently at the Nassau County Museum (Roslyn, NY), Path Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), TrafficArts (New York, NY), Dacia Gallery (New York, NY), Heath Gallery (New York, NY), and Grady Alexis Gallery (New York, NY).

2022 2022 2021 2021 2021 2021 2019 2018 2017

Solo Exhibition: Long-Sharp Gallery | Indianapolis, IN Butter | Indianapolis, IN Nassau County Museum, Songs Without Words: The Art of Music | Roslyn, NY Path Gallery | Los Angeles, CA Long-Sharp Gallery/Conrad Indianapolis, Featured Artist TrafficArts | New York, NY Dacia Gallery, Holiday Group Exhibition | New York, NY Heath Gallery | New York, NY Grady Alexis Gallery, Art United Presents: Radical Resistance to Xenophobia | New York, NY

PUBLICATIONS 2021 Forbes—Artist Feature Asher Gottesman Podcast, Apple Móyòsóré Martins Shows up to Paint Office Magazine Móyòsóré Martins, Exploring Nostalgia Portray Magazine—Artist Feature ART Daily Móyòsóré Martins opens Exhibition a Path Galleries

2019 Forbes—Artist Feature 2017 Asiri Magazine Móyòsóré Martins, Creating Cultural Tradition Spiritual Pathways

www.longsharpgallery.com www.moyosoremartins.com Instagram: @moysoremartins1910

Photo: Bowen Fernie © 2021

EXHIBITIONS

Móyòsóre Martins and Asher Edelman Harlem, NY 2020

“I made this painting after my first solo exhibition in Los Angeles. I was overly tired, exhausted, and drained. I put all my emotion in this work. I had just gotten a new studio in the Bronx—the first time I had a real studio, so I had big expectations. Then nothing came. My brain was fuzzy and out of focus. Coffee didn’t help. I fasted for a few days, cut out alcohol to get deeper clarity. I was having a total artist block. It was the first time ever and I had to work through it.

In this painting I worked primarily with layers of oil paint, pigments, and charcoal on canvas.

I use a lot of personal iconography, symbols, and messages in my work. For me, the eyes and the eyeballs are symbolic that my work is being seen. The figure in the middle is me—with a sense of clarity. The mouth behind the face is people talking about me.”

Artist Block 2022 Oil, oil stick, acrylic, and charcoal on canvas 70 x 70 in (175 x 175 cm)

Detail from Artist Block 2022

“This painting represents a ‘blissful realization.’ The inspiration behind it is when one is wanting so many things and trying to choose which is the most important, kind of like an obsession of ‘want.’ Putting too much effort on one thing—this is an evocation of the bliss when all the pieces come together.

Finally, when all the things you are working for come together—this is As It Should Be. The piece also expresses the joyful explosive freedom in that moment, and celebrates the universal power of women around me.”

As It Should Be (polyptych) 2022 Oil, oil stick, pigments, and charcoal on canvas Each 48 x 60 in (120 x 150 cm) Total 96 x 120 in (240 x 300 cm)

“This painting represents the feeling of craving and being obsessed. Obsessed with making ends meet. The ability to make my dreams a reality—and then still craving more.

In the painting, I’m more prominent in size than the little man. At any state you get to, there’s always someone bigger or trying to be better. It teaches you to be humble.

The spaceship is a contemplation of what’s beyond the current life. The house is my conscientiousness—burning, growing out of my comfort zone, hunger, anger, not comfortable, can’t sleep in the burning house. Yearning for life more than what it is.”

Beyond Here 2019 Oil on canvas Each 65 x 52 in (165 x 132 cm)

Detail of Beyond Here 2019

Crumble 2022 Oil, oil stick, pigments, and charcoal on canvas 72 x 145 in (180 x 162 cm)

“I made this painting when I returned to NY from my exhibition in Los Angeles. I had just gotten a new studio in the Bronx. I left all of my African artifacts at the exhibit in LA, which are my protection, my grounding. I felt like I was stripped away. The painting reflects my inner frustration, my feeling of emptiness, and then a creative block. I was feeling a bit depressed. I was processing and coming to terms with myself—that I wasn’t feeling in control. The not knowing, and that trust is a dangerous thing. How relationships are bigger than currency. The man in the middle of the painting is like my subconscious—I’m constantly asking God for help, for money, and forgiveness. I always say thank you for the things I don’t even have. This is me coming out of my comfort-zone—leaving my house and going to the studio and getting back in control again. I needed to go through the process.”

Detail of Crumble 2022

“This painting is a study of a classic Yoruba statue. I’m kind of obsessed with artifacts, both the ones from where I come from, that have so much power and meaning and spirituality, and when I came to the States, I began collecting the contemporary ones from here. In this painting, the artifact has precise details, and the background is a contrast with many layers and hues of red oil paint. The colors transcend to a lush terra-cotta hue. The original purpose of the object was a stool. It shows a woman, who is held up by the men below, and she carries a baby on her back. Women have a prominent role in Yoruba society and are prominent and strong. The traditional pieces are carved from a single block of wood by Yoruban craftsmen and artisans. I tried to create the object in this piece with simplicity and the same essence and motions of a sculptor, using one stroke to identify one or more surfaces or dimensions.

The background is an intentionally ‘grungy’ verse of colors in various mediums and textures one can get visually lost in. Africa is grunge and beautiful—beauty in dirty...like where I come from, grungy and colorful.”

Dogon 2019 Oil on canvas 65 x 53 in (162.5 x 132.5 cm)

“Gbe Mi means ‘carry me’ in Yoruba. This is a study of a classic Yoruba artifact, a subject that I use extensively in my paintings. This artifact has a female with a head tie or hat on with pointy breasts sitting down with a pot in hand and a child on her back. It is illustrated with exaggerated strokes, which I used to create a feeling of dimensionality.

I used simple colors contrasting the artifact in red and the background in blue. The colors have spiritual meaning to me. I wanted the imagination to drift to various places and shapes with my brush strokes and with patterns and messages. The power of the object is in its simplicity.”

Gbe Mi 2019 Oil on canvas 65 x 50 in (165 x 127 cm)

“This painting is about the different parts of my journey, my growth, the obstacles, the pitfalls, as well as the exposure, and the lessons and understanding of one’s worth. When you sit and think about it, you’re the only one who can evaluate yourself and stay true to yourself. What you see in the mirror is what you truly are, but at the same time, what you see in the mirror could be merely something that you think you are. Both can be very heavy sometimes.”

Heavy Sometimes 2021 Oil on canvas 69 x 78 in (175 x 198 cm)

Detail of Heavy Sometimes 2021

Igba Orin (Sounds of Time)(diptych), 2021, Oil, charcoal, and plaster on canvas, 60 x 96 in (150 x 240 cm)

The child becomes the man. It is customary that the musician that plays in the neighborhood passes on the tradition in the family. This is a childhood memory for Martins.

This work was featured in an exhibition entitled The Art of Music at the Nassau County Museum of Art in 2021-22.

“Igba Orin (Sounds of Time) embraces the imagination in its celebration of Martins’s Nigerian roots and cultures.

The diptych reflects the omnipresence of music, not on in Nigeria, but also in Martins’s village. There, Sundays are marked with an especially joyful and celebratory atmosphere. In honoring tradition, Martins’s diptych features two imaginary people: a youth and an elder facing each other. Both individuals hold talking drums, or gun-gun drums, which are played not only as a part of celebrations, but also played during oral storytelling and the sharing of proverbs. Martins ties tradition to the concept of time. The youth looks to the elder as a model of wisdom. As Martins explains, it takes time for the individual to pay their dues and grow in maturity and wisdom.

Throughout the canvas, Martins has embedded encrypted text among his blend of loose gestural strokes, thick impasto, scratches, and patches of exposed canvas. These texts are part of the dreamscape rendered in paint that invite the viewer to look more closely and study the work in front of them.

Detail of left side canvas Igba Orin (Sounds of Time) 2021

As the self-taught mixed media artist himself explains: ‘My artwork is intentionally raw. I like to use a lot of different materials and have rough-cut edges on the canvas. The paintings are textured with scratches, scribbles, and mud-like paint, as well as clay, liquid plastic, oil sticks, chunky layers of oil paint. I layer the background and then deconstruct them, which gives the feeling of wear and tear on the canvas. No painting is alike as each has symbolic patterns and encrypted messages hidden within them. I want to merge the vision with the given and to the new world that I live in now. The word “Why?” is seen in a lot of the work because it leaves you asking the same question.’”

—Jen Haller, Laura Lynch, Nassau County Museum

Detail of right side canvas Igba Orin (Sounds of Time) 2021

“Life is just a market. This painting is about how people don’t think of their ‘end time.’ And they don’t prepare for it because we are so busy chasing dreams and creating memories. We are so in denial that we don’t want to plan for the end time.

Before we get to that other side, the way we leave our memories matters a lot. What people think of our memory means something. My dad was old when he had me. I grew up acting like an old man.

When he died, I saw so many things, how he didn’t plan for many things and took so many things for granted. We need to plan for that exit. God will ask you, ‘What was your impact?’ And you want to bring this to the other side with you. But we treat it with vanity. In the end, it’s simple. It’s one way in and one way out. Life is just a market.”

Oja Ale II (The Market) 2021 Oil and oil stick on canvas 46 x 64 in (115 x 160 cm)

Seen (Female) 2022 Oil on canvas 40 x 30 in (100 x 75 cm)

“Seen is a series of works I created about being seen and my own seeing. This is the theme of this exhibition. It represents my feelings about people’s expectations. The art world, fellow artists, the demand for the work, working in countries I’ve never been. There’s sometimes frustration and a sense of my own ego in juxtaposition to expectations. A feeling of being put in a box—regarding what the work should be.

The brushstrokes feel aggressive and fast. The mouths on the back represent talking back. Everyone has things to say.

Eyes are about seeing and the exposure to being seen. The stripes on the characters’ clothes, which I often reference in my work, represent my home, where I come from, and 1986 is the year I was born.”

Seen (Male) 2022 Oil on canvas 40 x 30 in (100 x 75 cm)

“This painting is about me seeing the world around me. About me opening my eyes. I always say, ‘See the world around you and tell me who you are.’ This painting was inspired by an experience I had in LA where I realized there was no limit to the dream. It changed how I viewed myself.”

See The World Around You 2022 Oil, oil stick, acrylic, pigment, pigmented wax and charcoal on canvas 78 x 60 in (195 x 150 cm)

A study of an traditional Yoruba sculpture, Martins approaches this painting like a sculpture using one stroke to illustrate and identify the object. The vertical figure fills the entire canvas, giving homage to the importance of the object. Two small figures at the bottom hold up the great weight and responsibility of the world above, including a regal horsed man with the staff, and above him, a woman on her knees with an offering in a bowl.

What is the meaning of this? Purposeful cultural and tribal iconography has spiritual meaning and gives power to the visual tension.

Untitled (Study) 2019 Oil on canvas 65 x 55 in (162.5 x 137.5 cm)

What If? (polyptych) 2022 Oil, oil stick, pigments, and charcoal on canvas Each 48 x 60 in (120 x 150 cm) Total 96 x 120 in (240 x 300 cm)

“This painting is about embracing change and discomfort and knowing there is no going back; it is the commitment to the way forward. When you view the painting, you see the interlocking progressional chain.

Being an artist comes with self-doubt, such as when trying to embrace new techniques and new influences. Everything comes with a little bit of struggle and doubt. When you learn that life is all about propelling forward, you will always be happy when a new change comes your way. You have to try to push aside the doubts that come in between. It’s also about the opportunities, like “what if” I did this, or this or that happened. “What if?”

I’ve been asked why their eyes are downcast. For me, they don’t need to use their eyes because they see with their minds, their thoughts, and their premonitions. It’s about ‘all-seeing’ in a spiritual way.”

What If? 2022 Work in Progress Bronx Studio, New York

Móyòsóré Martins Harlem, NY 2021

Long-Sharp Gallery 1 North Illinois, Suite A Indianapolis, IN 46204 Hours | Friday: 12:00 pm-6:00 pm and by appointment.

To inquire about works available or make an appointment outside gallery hours: Telephone: +1 866 370 1601 Email: info@longsharpgallery.com www.longsharpgallery.com